
Glass ^- 

Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



PRICE, 25 CENTS. 







^^aM^ NALLY& 



HANDY GUIDE 

TO THE ^^ 

Hudson River 



^» 



VM 



^x/i/f/i- 




I 



AND Oatskill Mountains 



RAND, MclNALLY & COMPANY, Publishers. 



You can reach 

practically all 

the great resorts 

of America, 

by the through 

car lines of 

''America's Greatest 

Railroad"— 7 

The New York Central. 



Before deciding 
on your Summer 
Outing, consult the 
''Four^Track Series," 
the New York Central's 
beautiful 
books of travel. 

Illustrated Catalogue sent free, post- 
paid, on receipt of a two=cent stamp, 
by George H. Daniels, General Pas- 
senger Agent, Grand Central Station, 
New York. 



ON Til ^^ 



h 



i 



estminster'* 



. jne of the few hotels in New 
York not condiicted on the expen- 
sive European plan. It has all the 
luxuries, comforts, and conveni- 
ences of an eleg-ant home. It is 
on the corner of i6th Street and 
Irving Place, and close to Union 
Square, near all the best shops, 
the theaters, the " L" roads, and 
surface cars, but its immediate 
neighborhood is quiet — you can 
sleep there. The streets on all 
sides are paved with asphalt. 

Rates, $3 50 per day and up- 
ward. You can't get better service 
or better fare if you pay double. 

" A Little Book About a Big 

City " free if you ask. 

E. N. AN ABLE, Prop., 
Cor. 1 6th St. and Irving Place, 
New York 

I Copftlgbt 1806— Bates-Whitman Co., N. y 



Vji 




%. 



Saratoga 
Lincoln Water 



The Coming Water of 
Saratoga Springs. 




It is carefully packed and shipped in cases of 
4 and 2 dozen pints and 2 dozen quarts. 
Address all orders to 



Lincoln Spring. 

Saratoga Springs, N. Y 



Cbe Delauan 



Ag"ain Open, 
Renovated, and 
Refurnished. 



^ 



The nearest house 
to all Depots. 
Kept in first-class 
style. 



All rooms on first floor have parlor 
and baths connected en suite. Free 
'bus to all trains and boats. 



Rates, $2.50 and Upwards 

According to Rooms and Location. 



Trusty Porters at all Trains and Boats 

to care for baggage and show guests every 
attention, giving information of leaving time 
of trains, etc. 

HURTY & I^OORE, Props. 




^ 




T^^aezP^yS^^. 



United Spates Hotel, 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. 

ONE OF THE LARGEST HOTELS IN THE WORLD. 

917 rooms for guests; line of buildings over 1,500 feet long; 6 stories high; 

covering and inclosing 7 acres of ground: 236 feet frontage on 

Broadwa}'; 075 feet frontage on Division Street. 

The su mmer residence of the most refined circles of American fashion and society. 

• . ORCHESTRA, HOPS, GERMANS, BALLS, .^ 
•• CONCERTS, AND ENTERTAINMENTS. *• 

Most elegantly furnished parlors, ball-room, public and private dining-rooms, 
reading-rooms, etc. Private villas of any size in the 



•COTTAGE WING' 



Unexcelled in everything pertaining to elegance, convenience, and attractive- 
ness bj- any house in the world. 

Tompkins, Gage & Perry, 

PROPRIETORS. 




g ROADWAY Q ENTRAL g-| OTEL , 

|SJEW YOiM- 

Nos. 66r to 6rt BROADWAY, Opposite Bond Street, 

Midway between Battery and Central Park. 
THIS IMMENSE PROPERTY 

By far the Largest in New York, and on^ of the Great Hotels of the World, 

au<l Avith tlie present improvements will have ^ -v luation of over Two Millions 
of Dollars and accommodate ONE THOUSAND PERSONS. 

THE LOCATION IS UNSURPASSED! 

THE NEW RAPID TRANSIT CABLE LINES PASSING THE DOORS RUN 

THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF BROADWAY FROM THE BATTERY TO CENTRAL PARK, 
PASSING ALL THE FASHIONABLE STORES, THEATRES, AND PRINCIPAL ATTRAC- 
TIONS OF THE CITY. 

ALL CROSS-TO^MSr CARS TRANSFER at BROADWAY WITH THE CABLE 
LINES, taking guests direct to the hotel from every ferry, steamer dock or 
station. 

GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT Passengers can take LEXINGTON AVENUE 
CABLE CARS direct to or from tlio Hotel to 45(1 Street Station, or Fourth 
Avenue Street Cars direct to Astor Place or Bond Street, one blot-k in froiu. 

SIXTH AVENUE STATION OF ELEVATED RAILRO-AD, BLEECKER 
STREET, one block in the rear. 

Passenfjers ARRIVING BY ANY OF THE FERRIES, or either FOREIGN 
<ir COASTWISE STEAMERS, can take any Cross-Town Car, or walk to Broadway 
and take Cable Cars direct to the Hotel; or via the Sixth Avenue Elevated, 
stopping ai Bleecker Street Station, 3 minutes from Hotel. 

THE CENTRAL WILL BE RUN ON BOTH THE A^IERICAN AND EUROPEAN PLANS. 
The regular Tariff Charges for each Per.son will be : 

For Room, only - - - - - $1.00 and upwards. 

" " and Board - - - $2.50 " " 

" Single Meals - - 75 Cents. 

Rooms with Parlor or Bath Extra. 

For full iiarticulars, send for circulars, maps, and other information to 
United statts Hotel, TILLY HAYNES, Broadway Centrsl 



Boston. 



PROPRIETOR. 



Hotel, New Yori<> 



BIRD'S-EYE 

MAP OF NEW YORK 




p ROADWAY CENTRAlTHOIEL 



...TEO STATES MOTE,., TILLY HAYNES, BPO.CW.V CEHTRAU HOTE. 
EOS'ON. PROPRIETOR. -E«™»- 




\ 




RAND, McNALLY & CO.'S 



ILLUSTRATED GUIDE 



It) THE 



HUDSON^ EIYEE 



AND 



Catskill Mountains 



■i By ERNEST INGERSOLL 



>" 



FOURTH EDITIOX, 



chicago and new york 
Rand, McNally &. Company, Publishers 

1895. ^N. 




He (ATSK:rL3^ 
Open from June to October. 

PASSENGER ELEVATOR, SANITARY PLUMBING, OPEN 

FIRES, STEAM HEAT, ELECTRIC 

BELLS, GAS, ETC. 

CDe flldine 

A new and substantial building (40 x 120) has been erected, 
to be used as an amusement hall. It has six regulation alleys, 
shuffle board, billiard and pool tables, soda water fountain, 
confectionery and souvenir counter; 

The grounds comprise twenty acres laid out in walks and 
roads, tennis courts, croquet grounds, groves, and orchards. 
Western Union Telegraph office in the hotel. 

Hotel St. Charles coaches meet all trains. 

For rates and illustrated booklet, address 



V 



) : 



J. H. BURTIS, JR., PropV, 

HUNTER, IM. Y. 



Copyright, 1893, by Kanrl, McNally & Co. 
Copyriglit, 1804, by Rand, McNally & Co. 
Copyright, 1895, by Rand. McNally & Co. 
Copyright, 1896, by Rand, McNally & Co. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Introduction .1 1-24 

Character of the Hudson... H 

Early History 16 

Hudson Riv^er Steamboats and Railways 23 

New York to Tarrytown 25-57 

The New York City an. 1 New Jersey Sliores 25 

The Burr-Hamilton Duel 26 

Revolutionary Forts 30 

The Palisades .35, 46 

The City of Yonkers 39 

Dobb's Ferjy and Irviugton.. 44 

The Croton Aqueducts 48 

The Story of Sunnyside .. 49 

Fiom Irvington to Tarrytown 51 

Sleepy Hollow, Past and Present 53 

Tarrytown to West Point 58-105 

The Tappan Sea 58 

Nyack 59 

Sing Siog : 60 

The Story of Arnold's Treason 65 

The Battle of Stony Point 68 

Peekskill 73 

The Passasje of the Hudson Highlands 76 

The Fall of the Hiahland Forts 81 

The Tour of West Point 88 

AYest Point to Newbcrgti 106-136 

Cro' Nest and Storm King 108 

The Culpiit Fay 109 

Cornwall and Its Attractions 112 

N. P. Willis' "Idlewild" 113 

The City of Newburgh 116 

Washington's Headquarters 121 

TheFishkill Shore 125 

Newburgh to Poughreepsie 128-136 

Ice and the Ice Harvest 129 

Poughkeepsie and Education 133 

(3) 



Stanwix Hall 

ALBANY, N. Y. 

American and European Plan 



The most Perfectly and Comfortably 
Equipped Hotel in the Capital City. 

UNDER ENTIREL Y NEW MAN A GEMENT. 

\j/l CONDUCTED LIBERALLY WITH A DESIRE TO 

/l^ SATISFY THE MOST EXACTING. 

MORE CONVENIENT TO ALL DEPOTS AND 
STEAMBOATS THAN ANY OTHER HOTEL IN 
THE CITY. 



7T\ 



Many Alterations and Improvements 
have been effected during the past year, 

INCLUDING ENTIRELY NEW PLUMBING 
THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE: FILTRATION OF 
THE WHOLE WATER SUPPLY; NEW MARBLE 
LAVATORIES AND BARBER SHOP, SMOKING 
ROOMS, LARGE PARLORS, ETC. 

RATES FOR EACH PERSON WILL BE: 

For Room only, $i.oo and upward per day, 

according to location, etc. 
For Room and Board, $3.00 and upward per 
^^ day, according to location, etc. 

^ For Rooms with Parlor or Bath an extra charge 

will be made. 
An Excellent Cafe at Popular Prices. 
Special Rates will be made for large parties. 

Address C. QUACKENBUSH. 



CONTENTS. 

I'AGE. 
POUGIIKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON 137-154 

First View cf the Catski Is. 138 

The Cit}^ of Kingston 142 

Cement and Cement Making. Bluestone, etc 143 

Historical Sketch of Kingston 147 

The i^enate House 150 

The Burning of Kingston by ihc Brit sh 151 

The Tour of the Catskills... 155-17G 

Two Principal Entrances 156 

'I'he Journey from Kingston 157 

At the Gateway of the Catskills 158 

Loftiest of the Catskills - 161 

Stony Clove, Hunter, and Tannersville 163 

Parks and Cottagers 165 

From Phoenicia to Stamford . . 168 

Kingston to Catskill and to the Mountain Resorts . .177-199 

Rhinebeck 177 

Saugertiep. ... 1 79 

The Story of Clermont. 181 

Catskill Village 184 

Catskill Mountain Railroad and Otis Elevator. 186 

A Group of Famous Mountain Hotels 187 

Kaaterskill Clove and Rip Van Winkle 190 

Catskill to Hudson 193 

The City of Hudson's Curious History 194 

The Capital City 200-216 

Historical Sketch of Albany... 200 

The Tour of Albany 204 

The Stale Capitol Described 205 

The Upper Hudson Country 217-226 

The Rollicking Youth of the Hudson. 217 

Albany a Central Point of Departure for the Tourist 219 

Tours North of Albany... 220 

Saratoga and the Southern Adirondacks 221-222 

The Historical Region of Lake George . 223 

Northern Entrances to the Ad rondacks 224 

Along Lake Champlain.. 224 

Scenery in the Mountains 224 

From Plattsburgh to Saranac Lake 226 

Alpiiaeetical List of Hotels in the Hudson Valley 

AMD Catskills 227-232 

Lndex 237-249 




f^EL §l/JMPL/If^ 




OArS£//yfy' 



On Lake Champlaiii, Three ]\Iiles south of 
Plattsburgh, N. Y. 

D. & H. R. R. Station and Steamboat Pier 
In Hotel Grounds. 



Xhe Sup^i*t) Adirondack and 
Lake presort 



Vast and magnificent views of lake and mountains; fishing 
and hunting; riding, rambling, and sailing; exquisite scenery; 
romantic and historic localities; a lofty and airy situation; 
panoramic views of Adirondack and Green mountains. It is 
the natural stoiDping-over point for Northern tourists. 

A FINE GOLF COURSE IN THE GROUNDS. 

O. D. SEAVEY, Manager, 

p. O. ADDRESS, HOTEL CHAMPLAIN, N. Y. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Towing on the Hudson Frontispiece 

The Palisades Facing page 28 

Sugar Loaf _. " 44 

Breakneck Mountain " 60 

Slide Mountain and Shandakcn Valley " 76 

Cranston's .__ " 84 

View up Hudson from Hotel, West Point " 100 

View North from Upper Road, West Point " 108 

Newburgh " 116 

Washington's Headquarters at Ne^vburgli " 124 

The Poughkeepsie Bridge " 132 

Kaaterskill Falls i " 140 

Haines' Falls " 156 

Twilight Park Club House " 164 

Furlough Lodge. Geo. Gould's Summer House " 172 

Fleischman's Settlement, Delaware County " 180 

Otis Elevating Railroad, Catskill Mountains... " 188 

The Chasm, Catskill Creek " 204 



rn 



Fall River Line 



I 



THE Fall River Line long since took place among the 
foremost transportation systems of the country, and 
has for years been recognized as the peer of any 
of its class by alt sorts and conditions of people. The busi- 
ness of this line is continuous throughout the year, all facili- 
ties, accommodations, comforts, and appliances being equally 
desirable and perfect in Winter as in Summer. In the course 
of time these facts have become generally known, until the 
great majority of the public well understands that at all sea-f 
sons of the year the steamboats of this line are the same great 
floating hotels, making safe, rapid, sure, and satisfactory trips, 
and unfailing connections throughout every period. Its quin 
tette of steamboats, the 

PRISCILLA, PURITAN, 

PLYMOUTH, PILGRIM, 

AND PROVIDENCE, 

areunequaled in the world elsewhere by similar enterprise; anc 
this vast and restless agency is, indeed, one of the wonden 
of the century. Music and all features for the satisfactioit 
or delighting of patrons are unvarying the whole year round. 



Ffrtm IVf^W Yofl^ steamers leave Pier 18, North Eiver, 



foot of Murray Street, at 5.00 p. m. 



I 

F*m,>^rY-^ R.rAC£.-f rk*^ Trains connecting with Steamers at Fall River 
lUIII OU^tUIl^ (49 miles) leave Park Square Station (N. Y., N. 
H. & H. R. R.— Old Colony System) at 6.00 p. m. 

SUNDAY TRIPS ARE OMITTED DURING 
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH. 

Tickets by this Route are on Sale at all of the principal ticket offices 
in the United States and Canada. 

J. R. KENDRICK, President, S. A. GARDNER, Superintendent, 

Boston. New York. 

CEO. L. CONNOR, Pass'rTraf.Mgr., O. H. TAYLOR, Cen'l Pass'r Agt-i 
New Haven. New York. 






LIST OF MAPS. 



Section 1. 

new york to tariiytown. 

28 miles from New York City. 

Facing page 27. 

Section 2. 
tarrytown to newburgh. 

27 to 61 miles from Nev/ York City. 
Facing page 59. 

Section 3, 

newburgh to kingston. 

60 to 91 miles from New York City. 

Facing page 129. 

Section 4. 

KINGSTON to COXSACKIE. 

90 to 122 miles from New York City. 
• Facing page 177. 

Section 5. 

COXSACKIE to ALBANY. 

120 to 147 miles from New York City. 
Facing page 195. 

PLAN OP WEST point. 

Facing page 88. 



(9) 



KEY MAP 

Showing Location and ^<^o A 

Territory Covered by " 
Large Maps, 



Coxsa 



/¥ 







udson 



O 



IS/ •< 

Irtiinecliff 



ris 



kill 



30 



IVest Pol 



ROCKLAI 



-2l 



^ -M A M 



reckskill 



LTarryto)TU^" 





I L 



YORK 

U E E N S 

i;i{()()KL\N i.^ 




5^i 



l)otel Kenmore 

Leading Hotel of 

Albany, N. Y. 

Strictly First-Class 
Thoroughly Modern 

Lighted Throughout by Electricity 
Our Six O'clock Dinner a Special Feature. 

CENTRALLY LOCATED on principal retail thoroughfare. 
Convenient to STATE CAPITOL, other public buildings and 
places of interest. 

FREE OMNIBUSES at all trains and boats. 

H. J. ROCKWELL & SON, 
PROPRIETORS. 



INTRODUCTIOK. 



The Hudson River gathers its waters from the central heights 
of the Adirondacks, and these unite iuto a stream which at Fort 
Edward, 180 miles from its mouth, becomes well defined. The 
river is narrow, tortuous, nnd rock-obstructed, however, as far 
as Troy, thirty miles below and 150 from New York, where it 
reaches the level ground at tlie foot of the mountains, and begins 
the stately career of usefulness and beauty which has given it 
a world-wide renown. 

"Rivers are as various in their forms as forest trees. The 
Mississippi is like an oak with enormous branches. What a 
branch is the Red River, the Arkansas, the Ohio, the Missouri! 
The Hudson is like the pine or poplar — mainly trunk. From 
New York to Albany there is only an inconsiderable limb or two, 
and but few gnarls and excrescences. Cut off the Roudout, the 
Esopus, the Catskill, and two or three similar tributaries on the 
east side, and only some twigs remain. There are some crooked 
places, it is true, but on the whole the Hudson presents a fine 
symmetrical shaft that would be hard to match in any river of 
the world." So wrote John Burroughs (Scribner's Montlily, 
August, 1880), after living many years upon its bank; and he 
adds: 

" Of the Hudson it may be said that it is a very large river for 
its size; tliat is, lor the quantity of water it discharges into the 
sea. Its water-shed is comparatively small — less, I think, than 
that of the Connecticut. It is a huge trough with a very slight 
iDclioe, through which the current moves very slowly, and which 
would fill from the sea were its supplies from the mountains cut 
off. Its fall from Albany to the bay is only about five feet. 
Any object upon it, drifting with the current, progresses south- 
ward no more than eight miles in twenty-four hours. The ebb 
tide will carry it about twelve miles, and the flood set it back 
from seven to nine. A drop of water at Albany, therefore, will 
be nearly three weeks in reaching New York, though it will get 
pretty well pickled some days earlier. 

(11) 



IS INTRODUCTION. 

" Some rivers by their volume and impetuosity penetrate the 
sea, but here the sea is the aggressor, and sometimes meets the 
mountain water nearly half-way. . . . 

"It is this character of the Hudson, this encroachment of the 
sea upon it, that led Prof. Newberry to speak of it as a 
drowned river. We have heard of drowned lands, but here is a 
river overflowed and submerged in the same manner. It is quite 
certain, however, that this has not always been the character of 
the Hudson. Its great trough bears evidence of having been 
worn to its present dimensions by much swifter and stronger 
currents than those tliat course tlirough it now. Hence, Prof. 
Newberry lias recently advanced the bold and striking theory 
that in pre-glacial times this part of the continent was several 
hundred feet iiiglier than at present, and that the Hudson was 
then a very large and rapid stream, and drew its main supplies from 
the basin of the Great Lakes through an ancient river-bed that 
followed pretty nearly the line of the present Mohawk; in other 
words, that the waters of the St. Lawrence once found an outlet 
through this channel, debouching into the ocean from a broad, 
littoral plain, at a point eighty miles southeast of New York, 
where the sea now rolls 500 feet deep. According to the sound- 
ings of the coast survey, this ancient bed of the Hudson is 
distinctly marked upon the ocean floor to the point indicated. 

"To the gradual subsidence of this part of the continent, in 
connection with the great changes wrought by the huge glacier 
that crept down from the north during what is called the 
ice period, is owing the character and aspects of the Hudson 
as we see and know them. The Mohawk Valley was filled up by 
the drift, the Great Lakes scooped out, and an opening for their 
pent-up waters found through what is now the St. Lawrence. 
The trough of the Hudson was also partially filled, and has 
remained so to the present day. There is, perhaps, no point in 
the river where the mud and clay are not from two to three times 
as deep as the water. 

' ' That ancient and grander Hudson lies back of us several hun- 
dred thousand years — perhaps more, for a million years are but as 
one tick of the time-piece of the Lord; yet even it was a juvenile 
compared with some of the rocks and mountains the Hudson of 
to-day mirrors. The Highlands date from the earliest e;eological 
age— the primary; the river — the old river — from the latest, the 
tertiary; and what that difference means in terrestrial years hath 
not entered into the mind of man to conceive. Yet iiow the ven- 
erable mountains open their ranks for the stripling to pass 
through! Of course, the river did not force its way through this 
barrier, but has doubtless found an opening there of which it has 
availed itself, and which it has enlarged." 

The Hudson is now navigable to Troy for large steamers and 
shipping; but this, of course, is due to the artificial deepening of 



INTRODUCTION. 18 

the channel, wliich naturally is unnavigable for ships of even 
moderate size north of the city of Hudson. Opposite the city 
of New York, the whole river is from fifty to seventy-five feet 
deep, and a good depth is maintained as far as Hastings by 
the scouring force of the tides along the comparatively narrow 
channel at the foot of the Palisades. Above that point, however, 
a far less depth of channel actually exists wherever the river is 
broad, and extensive shallows stretch between it and the shore, so 
that long wharves, or else dredged approaches to the landing 
stages, are almost everywhere necessary. The Federal Govern- 
ment has spent large amounts of money in making and maintain- 
ing the ship-channel through the grassy shallows north of Catskill, 
and such harbors as those at Rondout and Saugerties. Moreover, 
it appears sadly true that the channel of the lower river is 
constantly growing shallower — dangerously so in the Tappan 
Sea; and this is due, it is said, to the reckless scattering tliere of 
vast quantities of refuse from barges and canalboats as well as 
of ashes from many steamboats. The principal offenders are the 
men who carry bricks, and who dump overboard, wherever con- 
venient, on their return trip, the broken bricks and dust rejected 
from the cargoes they carry to New York. "As there are forty 
to eighty canalboats in each tow, and from six to ten tows pass 
up the Hudson every twenty four hours, it is easy to realize what 
a vast quantity of these broken bricks must be thrown into the 
Hudson each year to the detriment of the channel. And not only 
are the bricks an evil in themselves, but they arrest mud and the 
natural silt which would otherwise be carried out to sea." These 
facts are mentioned here in the hope of calling public attention 
to the evil. A Federal commission has been appointed to exam- 
ine into the question of deepening and preserving the river chan- 
nel, but thus far it has done little or nothing. 

The river is closed by ice in winter throughout nearly its whole 
extent. North of the Highlands the closure is usually permanent 
during January and February, at least, and sometimes longer. 
Navigation ceases about the end of November, but the winter is 
by no means a period of idleness upon the Hudson. In its 
uppermost reaches, the lumbermen are busy, and the owners of 
water-power. Between Albany and the Highlands there is the 
vast ice industry (see Chap. IV), and the sports of racing, skating, 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

and ice-boating on the ice; the steam ferryboats continue to run, 
keeping their paths open. 

Below the Highlands the ice is a less certain quantity, not 
growing solidly from shore to shore, as a rule, and rarely available 
for cutting and saving, but drifting about in more or less compact 
floes, that lodge here and there for limited periods, and below 
Dobbs Ferry the river is entirely open more winters than it is 
closed. The ice-carriers travel all the year round between the 
city and Rockland Lake, and lightering and other business on the 
river near the city proceeds all winter with only rare and brief 
interruptions. This condition varies with seasons and periods, 
however; and not only the lower river, but the whole har])or, has 
been frozen solid for weeks together, as happened during the 
Revolutionary War. 

The river breaks up in March, usually. Burroughs tells us, 
though in some seasons not till April. 

"It is no sudden and tumultuous breaking of the fetters, as 
in more rapid and fluctuating streams, but a slow and deliberate 
movement of the whole body of the ice, like an enormous raft 
quietly untied. You are looking out upon the usually rigid and 
motionless surface, when presently you are conscious that some 
point, perhaps a cedar bough used by the ice men, or the large 
black S(,]uare of open water which they recently uncovered, has 
changed its place; you take steadier aim with your eye, and with 
a thrill of pleasure discover that the great ice-fields are slowly 
drifting southward. . . . 

" After the ice is once in motion, a few hours suffice to break 
it up pretty thoroughly. Then what a wild, chaotic scene the 
river presents — in one part of the day the great masses liurrying 
down stream, crowding and jostling each other, and struggling 
for the right of way; in the other, all running up stream again, as 
if sure of escape in that direction. Thus they race up and down, 
the sport of the ebb and flow, but the flow wins each time by 
some distance. Large fields from above, where the men were at 
work but a day or two since, come down; there is their pond 
yet clearly defined and full of marked ice; yonder is a section of 
their canal partly filled with the square blocks on their way to 
the elevators; a piece of a race-course, or a pait of a road where 
teams crossed, comes drifting by. The people up above have 
written their winter pleasure and occupations upon this page, and 
we read the signs as the tide bears it slowly past. Some calm, 
bright days the scattered and diminished masses flash by. like 
white clouds across an April sky. 

"Ducks now begin to appear upon the river, and the sports- 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

man, with bis white canvas cap and cape, crouched in his low 
white skiff, simulates as far as possible a shapeless mass of snow- 
ice, and thus seeks to drift upon them. . . . 

" When the chill of the ice is out of the river, and of the snow 
and frost out of the air, the fishermen along shore are on the look- 
out for the first arrival of shad. A few days of warm south 
wind, the latter part of April, will soon blow them up; it is true, 
also, that a cold north wind will as quickly blow them back. 
Preparations have been making for them all winter. In many a 
farm house or other humble dwelling along the river, the ancient 
occupation of knitting of fish-nets has been plied through the 
long winter evenings, perhaps every grown member of the house- 
hold, the mother and lier daughters, as well as the father and his 
sons, lending a hand. 

"The ordinary gill or drift net used for shad-fishing in the 
Hudson is from a half to three quarters of a mile long, and thirty 
feet wide, containing about fifty or sixty pounds of fine linen 
twine, and it is a labor of many months to knit one. Formerly 
the fish were taken mainly by immense seines, hauled by a large 
number of men; but now all the deeper part of the river is fished 
with the long, delicate gill-nets, that drift to and fro with the tide, 
and are managed by two men in a boat. The net is of fine linen 
thread, and is practically invisible to the shad in the obscure river 
current; it hangs suspended perpendicularly in the water, kept in 
position by buoys at the top and l»y weights at the bottom; the 
buoys are attached by cords twelve or fifteen feet long, which 
allow the nets to sink out of the reach of the keels of passing 
vessels. The net is thrown out on the ebb tide, stretching nearly 
across the river, and drifts down and then back on the flood, the 
fish being snared behind the gills in their efforts to pass through 
the meshes. . . . 

"The shad campaign is one that requires pluck and endur- 
ance; no regular sleep, no regular meals, wet and cold, heat and 
wind and tempest, and no great gains at last. But the sturgeon 
fishers, who come later, and are seen the whole summer through, 
have an indolent, lazy time of it. They fish around the * slack- 
water,' catching the last of the ebb and the first of the flow, and 
hence drift but little either way. To a casual observer they 
appear as if anchored and asleep. But they wake up when they 
have a 'strike,' which may be every day, or not once a week. 
The fisherman keeps his eye on his line of buoys, andwiien two or 
more of them are hauled under, he knows his game has run foul of 
the net, and he hastens to the point. The sturgeon is a pig, with- 
out a pig's obstinacy. He spends much of the time rooting and 
feeding in the mud at the bottom, and encounters the net, which 
is also a gill-net, coarse and strong, when he goes abroad. He 
strikes and is presently hopelessly entangled, when he comes to 
the top, and is pulled into the boat, like a great sleepy sucker." 



16 iNTRODtJCTION. 

The Discovery of the Hudson is popularly attributed to that 
old sea-dog, Henry Hudson, whose name it bears. He was not 
its discoverer, but he became its exponent and exploiter; and is 
entitled to all the distinction the attachment of his name to this 
most important and beautiful river is able to confer upon him. 

As early as 1524, the Florentine navigator, Yerrazano, an 
officer of the French king, Francis I., while coasting the shore of 
the lately discovered continent, entered the present bay of New 
York, and ascended it for some distance. How far is not known; 
but he must have gone at least to the Palisades, for he described 
the stream as "The River of the Steep Hills." This was the 
first sight of it by a European of which we have any certain 
record; and on a map issued in 1629, compiled partly from Yerra- 
zano's charts, the name " San Germano " is written at the mouth 
of the Hudson. 

In 1525, the next year after Yerrazano 's visit, came Gomez, a 
Portuguese, sailing under the Spanish flag along the American 
continent, in search of that great desideratum of all the early voy- 
ager.^, a short-cut to the East Indies. He knew nothing about Yer- 
razano, but this opening in the coast attracted his attention, and 
he entered it — probably on St. Anthony's Day (January 17th), for 
he gave the river, which he explored for some distance, the name 
" Rio San Antonio." In Ribero's chart, which was partly drawn 
from an outline map by Gomez, the country from Maryland to 
Rhode Islaud is named the "Land of Estevan Gomez"; and it 
has even been suggested that the Spaniards who put the whole 
river under holy St. Anthony's care were the first to notice that 
grand old cliff in the Highlands which quizzingly symbolizes the 
saint's nose. "It is true that Dutch Anthonys innumerable 
have claimed the honor, but until they settle the disputes among 
themselves, who shall say that Gomez never saw San Antonio's 
Nose?" 

The Dutch, who were the most energetic and intelligent sea 
rovers and traders of that time, were quick to profit by these and 
other discoveries. The archives of The Netherlands show that 
Dutch captains explored all this part of the American coast in 
1598, and that they frequented the territory, though without 
making any fixed settlements, except a shelter in the winter; 
' ' for which purpose they erected on the North (Hudson) and 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

South (Delaware) rivers there, two little forts against the incur- 
sions of the Indians " (iV: Y. Col Doc, Vol. I,]). 149). This is 
not at all unlikely, considering the fact that prior to 1598 three 
Dutch voyages had been made to within 9° of the pole. 

Thus Henry Hudson had several predecessors, and his mission 
was not to discover but to examine the river, of which he knew 
as much as the rest of the world of geographers and naval 
oflScers, and more than most of them, for he had had translated for 
his own use the ancient sailing directions of Ihe Icelanders who 
were accustomed to visit the northern part of the western conti- 
nent; and Capt. John Smith had supplied him with notes derived 
from the voyages of himself, Gosnold, and other "adventurers 
into Virginia." 

Twice this man had tried to reach China by way of the arctic 
seas north of Europe, and each time had failed to penetrate the 
ice fields beyond North Cape. A third time he tried it, sailing 
from Amsterdam under the Dutch flag, and in the "yacht" 
Half Moon (Haalve Maan), on March 25, 1609. Again meeting a 
solid barrier of ice, however, he turned his prow westward and 
held that course until the cliffs of Greenland arose over the tip of 
his bowsprit. Then he coasted southward, and in September 
(1609) entered what is now New York Bay, and sailed up our 
great river, landing now and then, until he reached the head of 
ship navigation somewhere near the present city of Hudson. 
Then he sent a boat-load of his men still farther, and they 
examined the river to beyond the mouth of the Mohawk, and 
came to the conclusion that this was not a channel through to 
the East Indies. The mind likes to dwell upon this voyage, 
whose incidents would be retold here were space available. 

" I think," exclaims N. P. Willis, "of all excitements in the 
world, that of the first discovery and exploration of a noble river 
must be the most eager and enjoyable. Fancy ' the bold 
Englishman,' as the Dutch called Hendrich Hudson, steering 
his little yacht, the Haalve Maan, for the first time through the 
Highlands. Imagine his anxiety for the channel, forgotten as he 
gazed up at the towering rocks, and round the green shores, and 
onward, past point and opening bend, miles away into the heart 
of the country; yet with no lessening of the glorious stream 
beneath him, and no decrease of promise in the bold aud luxu- 
riant shores! Picture him lying at anchor below Newburgh, 
with the dark pass of the ' Wey-Gat ' frowning behind him, the 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

lofty and blue Catskills beyond, and the hillsides around covered 
with the red lords of the soil, exhibiting only less wonder than 
friendliness. And how beautifully was the assurance of welcome 
expressed, when the * very kind old man ' brought a bunch of 
arrows, and broke them before the stranger, to induce him to 
partake fearlessly of his hospitality! " 

On the 4th of October, the Half Moon came out of the "great 
mouth of the great river," and "steered off into the main sea," 
on a direct course toward Holland, where its commander made 
haste to report the goodly land and opportunity for trade which 
he had found aud aptly appraised. Commerce at once followed 
in his track. The Half Moon never returned, but was wrecked 
at the Island of Mauritius; and a few years later Hudson himself 
— of whom we know almost nothing outside of the eventful years 
between 1607 and 1611 — was set adrift in an open boat by a 
mutinous crew, and left to perish in the arctic expanse of Hudson 
Bay. 

An interesting article by Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, in 
Vol. IV of the Magazine of American History, upon the names 
which the Hudson has borne, sketches the early history of the 
river thus: 

" When Hudson returned to Amsterdam with the report of his 
voyage, he spoke of the fine river he had explored as the 
'Manhattes,' from the name of the people who dwelt at its 
mouth. ... In 1610, a Dutch ship, freighted with goods to 
suit the savages, anchored in the bay, at the mouth of the ' river 
of the Manhattes,' and from that date a succession of the small, 
uncouth, but serviceable craft in favor among the early explorers 
and commercial adventurers of the period, showed themselves in 
the waters of the 'Great River of the Manhattans'; the Little 
Fox, the Nightingale, the Little Crane, the Tiger, the Fortune, 
passed the Narrows. In 1613, Adrian Block and his comrades 
wintered in the country, building themselves rude huts, probably 
of bark, for shelter. It was in consequence of the discoveries 
made by Block and his companions, in 1614, that the new country 
first received a civilized name in the charter granted the 'New 
Netherland Company' in 1616, and at the same period the 'Man- 
hattans River,' having been fully explored, received the legal 
name of ' De Riviere van den Vorst Mauritius.' That great mili- 
tary genius. Prince Moritz, was then stadtholder, and the idol of 
his countrymen, his whole life having been a series of battles, 
sieges, and victories. He Was in the full vigor of life and talent 
when Hudson, with the ' Haalve Maan,' entered the grand stream. 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

The English, only a few years earlier, had given the name of 
King James I, to a fine stream in Virginia. It was very natural 
that the New Netherlands Company should give the name of their 
stadtholder, Prince Maurice of Orange, to the river whose banks 
they were about to colonize. The same stream, however, was 
often spoken of as the ' Groote Riviere,' the ' Noordt Riviere,' the 
' River of the Manhattans,' and the ' Rio de Montague.' The name 
of Hudson was never, at any lime, connected with its waters by 
the Dutch. In 1024 De Laet wrote his New World; or, Descrip- 
tion of the West Indies, and at that date he distinctly says 
that * the Great North River of the New Netherlands' was by some 
called the Manhattes River, from the people who dwelt near its 
mouth; by others, also, Rio de Montague, or River of the Mount- 
ain; by some, also, Nassau, but by our own countrymen it was 
generally called the ' Great River.' 

" By this time the river had been Ihoroughl}'^ explored as far as 
the mouth of the Mohawk, A regular traffic with the different 
tribes on its banks had begun; Mohegan and Mohawk, Tappaen 
and Munsee, brought their peltries to the pale-faces. The rude 
trading boats, passing to and fro, had already noted and named 
the different reaches, or raches, in the stream, its islands, and 
some of the hills on its banks, from Manhattasto Beverwyck." 

Only one remark needs to be added, a word of explanation of 
the term North River, which is still used commonly in New York 
City. The "North River" {Noordt Hiviere) v^as originally and 
naturally so called by the Dutch colonists to distinguish it from 
the " South " {Zuydt Riviere), which was the Delaware, and not at 
all with reference to the " East River," which was on the eastern 
side of the island. At present the term North River is coming to be 
restricted to the harbor part of it between New York and Jersey 
City; but half a century ago it was still the designation most com- 
monly applied to the whole stream. The English, indeed, had 
always spoken of it as Hudson's River, but the Dutch never did 
so; and the use of the name Hudson River by the railway com- 
pany along its eastern bank has probably done more than any 
other agency to displace the old term and fasten Hudson's name 1/ 
in popular speech. 

From the time of the beginning of English rule in New York 
until the revolt of the colonists against the Crown, the history of 
the Hudson is simply that of the development of local trade and 
sea-going commerce in the eastern colonies. At the beginning of 
the Revolution, New York was already among the foremost sea- 
ports, and the Hudson Valley was the most populous and impor- 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

tant highway to the interior, north of the Delaware, and had an 
especial strategic value from the fact that it furnished a direct 
water route between the southern seacoast and the English strong- 
holds in Canada. Its possession was therefore of vital importance 
to the American patriots, since, if they lost it, New England would 
be separated by the enemy from the southern colonies. During the 
whole war, therefore, a struggle for the possession of the Hud- 
son went on, and many of the most thrilling and consequential 
operations of both armies were conducted in this valley, begin- 
ning with the capture of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Poiut, 
May 10, 1775, held by the British as the key to the gateway of 
Canada. Mimy of these are particularly spoken of in the follow- 
ing pages in connection with the places where they occurred; and 
here it is intended only to give an outline connecting them chron- 
ologically. 

After the evacuation of Boston (March 17, 1776), Washington 
gathered the main body of the army at New York, which was 
threatened by the British forces, and assembled it upon fortiiied 
hills, now included in the city of Brooklyn. After these were 
captured by the British (August 27, 1776), the American army 
escaped to fortified camps at White Plains, in AVestchester County, 
where, on July 9, 1776, a provincial assembly had proclaimed 
New York's adhesion to the Declaration of Independence. 
Driven from there after the battle of White Plains (October 28, 
1776), and the fall of Fort Washington and the neighboring 
redoubts (November 16, 1776), the remnant of the army was with- 
drawn to New Jersey, and a line of defense was made east of the 
Hackensack, leaving the British in possession of the western 
shore from the Palisades down to Jersey City. Then followed 
the retreat southward of the American army, and the campaign 
in the Delaware Valley, marked by the battles of Trenton and 
Princeton, and succeeded by the terrible winter at Valley Forge 
(1777-78). 

Meanwhile, at the end of 1775, a fruitless expedition invaded 
Canada, but was repulsed, and, in July, 1777, Burgoyne attempted 
to descend by the Hudson River route from Canada, and forced 
his way as far as Saratoga. Sir Henry Clinton prepared to meet 
him by sending an army northward, which captured the forts guard- 
ing the Highlands, enabling a squadron of British war vessels to 



rNTRODUCTION. 21 

ascend the river, plundering tlie villages along the shores, and 
finally destroying Kingston, where, in the preceding April, the first 
State Legislature had assembled and adopted the constitution. 
Nevertheless, Clinton failed to succor Burgoyne, who surrendered 
his army to Gates at Saratoga on October 17, 1777. 

Thus far the operations had been principally in New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania, but the concentration of the British forces in 
New York, early in 1778, caused Washington to take the army 
northward, where the battle of Monmouth was fought on June 
29, 1778. The winter was passed in the vicinity of Monistown. 
In the following summer, in 1779, Stony Point was captured by 
the Americans, and Washington regained complete possession of 
the Highlands and the river, which were then scientifically 
fortified. 

From this time on, the Highlands of the Hudson were con- 
stantly garrisoned, and, after September, 1778, the main army 
was quartered in the neighborhood of Newburgh, except when it 
moved to Virginia for the Yorktown campaign, which resulted in 
the capture of Cornwallis; after which the army returned to the 
Highlands to be disbanded, at the close of the war, in 1783. 

The principal incident of this period, which saw no local 
battles after the recovery of Stony Point, was the treason of 
Arnold, and the arrest and execution of Andr^, in September, 
1780. 

After the close of the war, business revived more quickly and 
vigorously, perhaps, along the Hudson Valley than anywhere 
else. Each of the existing large towns — Newburgh, Poughkeep- 
sie, Rondout, Albany — considered itself a seaport, and strove to 
bring to itself not only the country trade but foreign commerce. 
Hudson was called into existence, with a rush, by a company of 
speculative whaling masters and marine merchants. Turnpikes 
were built inland from each town. Whaling and fishing craft 
were built and manned and sent out from the up-river towns. 
Albany and Troy secured improvements of the upper channel to 
give them an equal chance. Lines of fast and regular passenger 
sloops, as well as freight vessels, were organized, and the river 
towns throve and made good headway, even against New York. 
But prosperity in this line was bi ief . In 1807 the first steamboats 
were introduced, and they ran for years on the Hudson before 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

they were established elsewhere. The tendency of the new con- 
veyance — by cheapening and quickening the carriage of both 
goods and passengers — to minister to the supremacy of the great 
town nearest the mouth of the river, was at once foreseen; and 
when the Erie Canal and the Delaware & Hudson Canal were 
opened, between 1830 and 1840, and tugs were ready to haul the 
canalboats and barges straight on to New York, the end of the 
up-river towns as seaports and rivals of New York City was at 
hand. It was fully accomplished a few years later by the build- 
ing of the railway. 

Meanwhile, however, the country along both sides of the 
river had developed, and the townsmen, adapting themselves to 
new conditions, had built up local trade and manufactures, which 
have rendered them newly prosperous, and are year by year 
adding to their numbers and possessions. 

These things are highly interesting to the historian, the philos- 
opher, and the man-ofaffairs, whose desire for information of this 
kind has not been neglected in the following pages; but to the 
ordinary tourist the river remains chiefly interesting for the beauty 
of its scenery, for the romantic associations that cluster about its 
past and its present, and for the magnificent homes along its 
banks, and the conspicuous people who dwell in them, 

"I thank God," exclaims Washington Irving, "I was born on 
the banks of the Hudson . . . and I fancy I can trace much 
of what is good and pleasant in my own heterogeneous compound 
to my early companionship with this glorious river. In the 
warmth of my youthful enthusiasm, I used to clothe it with 
moral attributes, and almost to give it a soul. I admired its 
frank, bold, honest character; its noble sincerity aud perfect truth. 
Here was no specious, smiling surface, covering the dangerous 
sand-bar or perfidious rock; but a stream deep as it was broad, 
and bearing with honorable faith the bark that trusted to its 
waves, I gloried in its simple, quiet, majestic, epic flow; ever 
straight forward. Once, indeed, it turns aside for a moment, 
forced from its course by opposing mountains, but it struggles 
bravely through them, and immediately resumes its straight- 
forward march. Behold, thought I, an emblem of a good man's 
course through life; ever simple, open, and direct; or if, over- 
powered by adverse circumstances, he deviate into error, it is but 
momentary; he soon recovers his onward and honorable career, 
and continues it to the end of his pilgrimage. . . . 

"The Hudson is, in a manner, my first and last love; and 
after all my wanderings and seeming infidelities, I return to it 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

with a heart-felt preference over all the other rivers in the world. 
I seem to catch new life as I bathe in its ample billows and inhale 
the pure breezes of its hills. It is true, the romance of youth is 
past, that once spread illusions over every scene. I can no longer 
picture an Arcadia in every green valley; nor a fairy laod among 
the distant mountains; nor a peerless beauty in every villa gleam- 
ing among the trees; but though the illusions of youth have 
faded from the landscape, the recollections of departed years and 
departed pleasures shed over it the mellow charm of evening 
sunshine." 



HUDSON RIVER STEAMBOATS AND RAILWAYS. 

Steamboats — All the lines of steamboats plying upon the 
Hudson River between New York and up-river landings have 
their wharves in New York upon the western, or North River, 
side of the city. They arc as follows: 

Albany Day Line Steamers leave New York every morning in 
summer (except Sunday) from Vestry Street Pier at 8.40, and 
W. 22d Street at 9.00 a. m., for Albany and principal inter- 
mediate points, arriving at Albany at 6.00 p. m. Fare, |2.00; 
return fare, |3.50. 

People's Line Steamers leave New York every day (except 
Sunday) from Old Pier 41, N. R., foot of Canal Street, at 6.00 
p. m., for Albany, arriving there at 6.00 a. m. next day. Fare, 
11.50; return fare, $2.50. 

Citizens' Line Steamers leave New York every day (except 
Saturday) from Pier 46, foot of W. 10th Street, at 6.00 p. m., for 
Troy, arriving there at 6.00 p. m. next day. The Sunday steamer 
touches at Albany. Fare, $1.50; return fare, $2.50. 

Mary Powell Steamboat Go. — Steamer "Mary Powell," leaves 
New York every day (except Saturda}^ fi'om Desbrosses Street 
Pier at 3.15 p. m., and W. 22d Street Pier at 3.30 p. m. (from 
May 15th to October 15th) for Rondout, Kingston, and inter- 
mediate points. 

Catskill Evening Line Steamers leave New York eveiy day 
(except Sunday) from Pier 48, foot of W. 11th Street, at 6.00 
p. m. , for Catskill, Hudson, and Coxsackie, connecting at Hudson 
with the Boston & Albany Railroad. Fare, 50 cents; return 
fare, $1.00. 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

Saugerties Evening Line leaves from foot of Christopher Street, 
North Kiver every week day at 6.00 p. m., for Staatsburg, Rhine- 
beck, Barrytown, Ulster Landing, Tivoli, and Saugerties. Fare, 
$1.00; return fare, $1.50. During July and August Saturday boat 
leaves at 1.00 p. m. 

Kingston Line Steamers leave New York every day from Pier 
46, foot of W. 10th Street, at 4.00 p. m., Saturdays at 1.00 p. m., 
for Rondout and Catskill Mountains. Fare, $1.00; return fare, 
$1.50. 

Homer Ramsdell Transportation Co. — Steamers leave New 
York every day from Pier 24, N. R. , foot of Franklin Street, at 
5.00 p. m., Sundays 9.00 a. m., for Newburgh and intermediate 
points. Fare, 50 cents; return fare, $1.00. 

Railways.— Six railways extend into the Hudson Valley from 
New York, as follows: 

New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. — Station, Grand 
Central Depot, Fourth Avenue and 43d Street. This road passes 
up the valley of the Harlem to the mouth of the Spuytcn Duyvil, 
and then closely skirts the eastern margin of the river all the way 
to Albany and Troy. Its service is frequent and rapid, and a seat 
on the river side of one of its trains affords the passenger an 
admirable view of nearly all the scenery. The New York and 
Putnam Division runs northward from 155th Street as far as 
Sing Sing, touching Yonkers and other smaller towns. 

West Shore Railroad. — This railroad has its terminus in 
Weehawken, N. J. , which is reached from New York by ferries 
from the foot of Franklin and W". 42d streets. It passes through 
and along the rear of the Palisades to Haverstraw, and thence 
along the edge of the river through the Highlands, as far as a few 
miles above Poughkeepsie, when it turns inland and continues to 
Albany out of sight of the river. 

The New York, Lake Erie <& Western Railway (the Erie) runs 
by branches from Jersey City to Piermont, Cornwall, and New- 
burgh. It is reached from New York by ferries from the foot of 
Chambers and W. 23d streets. Ferry from Newburgh to Fish- 
kill. 

The Northern Railroad of New Jersey runs from the Erie 
station in Jersey City alOng the rear of the Palisades, through a 
historic and beautiful country to Nyack. Ferry to Tarrytown. 



HUDSON RIVER GUIDE-BOOK 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

Let us begin our Descriptive Tour of the River at tlie New 
York wharf of some up-river steamer, say an Albany or 
Troy day -line boat, and stand as observers upon its deck while 
the voyage proceeds. Thus both shores of the noble Avater-way 
will be under our eyes at once, and we can proceed compre- 
hensively. 

Immediately opposite us, as the steamer leaves her wharf, 
stretching downward along the western shore of the harbor, are 
the wharves, warehouses, sugar-retineries, aud railway stations of 
Jersey City. Of the last, the most prominent is the huge arched 
station and train house of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the great 
central line East and South. Just above it the tall Lorillard 
tobacco-works are seen; and a mile farther the elevators, stations, 
and ferry landings of the Erie Railway (New York, Lake Erie & 
Western), the terminus of the main line not only, but of the branch 
to New burgh and Piermout, and of the New Jersey Northern Rail- 
road to Nyack. Still farther on is the river-side terminus of the 
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. 

The expanded channel here is crowded with ocean steamships 
and the white hulls of the boats that run up the river to ports on 
Long Island Sound and to the ocean beaches. A score of ferry- 
boats at once are crossing from shore to shore, and three times 
as many more may be counted in their slips. Great steamers, 
European ' ' liners," coasters to the Gulf of Mexico, the West Indies, 
and South America; men-of-war, at anchor; numberless tugs, 
racing about alone, proudly towing some noble ship to sea, or 
laboriously dragging a long line of picturesque barges; and 
innumerable sailing-craft, large aud small, foreign and domestic, 
dignified and ridiculous — nil these meet and pass and cross one 
another's bows with little hindrance, for there is room enough for 
each. 

The New York shore shows simply a straight array of wharves 
and warehouses, crowded with ocean steamships, the names of 
whose lines may be read in large letters, but these thin out 

(25) 



26 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

above 23d Street, where most of the Hudson River boats 
stop (actually at the foot of W. 22d Street) for up-town pas- 
sengers. The city's available water-front on North River is 
said to be no less than thirteen miles in extent, but only the 
lower part of this is devoted to commerce as yet, fortunately for 
the sight-seeing traveler. 

Meanwhile a bushy headland has attracted attention on the 
New Jersey shore, where Hoboken has succeeded Jersey City, 
north of an invisible boundary liue, just above the Erie terminus, 
and about at the place where the half-dug tunnel underlies 
the river. This is Stevens' Pointy opposite 14th Street, New 
York, the site of "Stevens' Castle," the homestead of the late 
Commodore Stevens, who formerly owned a large tract of land 
near it, and founded the Stevens' Institute of Technology, whose 
buildings now occupy the Point. The man and the place became 
famous during the Civil War in connection with the huge float- 
ing fortress called the Stevens' Battery, which was constructed 
there, at the commodore's expense, for the defense of the harbor, 
but was never used. 

The lowlands north of this Point are called The Elysian Fields 
— a resort for Sunday afternoon strolling, of which our grand- 
fathers and grandmothers in their young days were very fond, 
but which has now lost its beauty and good repute together. 

Close behind it is seen the rocky front of Bergen Hill, a long 
ridge of trap rock which forms the backbone of the peninsula 
between the valleys of the Hudson and those of the HacUensack 
River and Newark Bay, which are two miles west, and parallel 
with our river. This ridge steadily increases in height and bold- 
ness forward ; and is occupied north of Hoboken by Hudson City, 
covering West Hoboken and Union Hill in one municipality. 
Nearer the water, and next north of the Elysian Fields, comes 
Weehawken a name, like " Hoboken," which is a corruption of 
an Indian term learned by the earliest colonists. None of these 
towns, upon close acquaintance, gain much over the unprepossess- 
ing appearance they have from the water, and they are inhabited 
mainly by foreigners, principally Germans. 

THE BURR-HA.MILTON DUEL. 

The Weehawken shore lias a melancholy interest as the scene 
of that sad duel between Hamilton and Burr which ended the 



\ ' 




r^^ 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 27 

careers of two exceedingly talented men. It took place upon a 
grassy platoaii at the foot of the cliff just south of the present 
West Shoii' Railroad ferry-houses, in the early morning of July 
11, 1804. 

Alexander Hamilton was one of the most cultivated, most tal- 
ented, honorable, nnd patriotic men of his time. He had been of 
distinguished service during the years of the Revolution, and to 
liis genius the financial recovery of the United States at the 
close of ihat war was mainly due. Among the men whose 
public course he combatted was the Vice-President, Aaron Burr, 
a man of brilliant talents, but of erratic and vindictive character. 
Buir seized upon the pretext of some idle gossip to make a 
quarrel with Hamilton, and sent a challenge of such a nature as, 
according to the social rule of the time, Hamilton felt bound to 
accei)t, though well aware that he had been innocent of any real 
offense. They met at Weehawken, and Hamilton was mortally 
wounded at the first fire, he making no attempt to reply with his 
own pistol. His death, the next day, was mourned as a public 
calamity, and Burr was treated with almost universal execration 
until he sank into a bitter and miserable obscurity. 

On the hill-top above the place where this duel was fought 
lay the large estate and stone house of the King family. The 
mansion still stands, but it and the grounds (to which Col. King 
carried the bowlder against which Hamilton fell, and inscribed it 
with the initials A. H.) are now occupied by an immense summer 
garden and amusement place named El Dorado, where outdoor 
spectacular exhibitions are given every evening, with music, and 
refreshments, and decorous merry-making of all sorts in the open 
air. 

"What a change is here!" exclaims a recent newspaper 
observer. "The quintessence of paradox is reached when in this 
old King house wliich, after the battle of Brandy wine, was the 
headquarters of Gen. Lafayette, are now quartered 150 chorus 
girls, who nightly flit across the El Dorado stage. In the great 
high-studded rooms with fluted cornices, where Lafayette and 
his staff lived, are now placed little cot beds, five or six in a room; 
and round the old table which has many a time shaken with the 
pounding of fists as General and af lerward President Washing- 
ton was toasted in sound old Madeira, now sit a dozen or more 
Spanish coryphees, who chatter Spanish and eat roast chicken 
and drink fresh milk every morning. 

" It is the same red sun that sinks down behind the blue hills 
of New Jersey now that sank down a hundred years ago, but 
what a different scene it said good-evening to then. There was 
no teeming city across the river, no huge white steamers making 



28 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

up and down, no El Dorado, with its dancing lights and moving 
crowds, no yellow-haired coryphees. All was different, except 
the old square stone house. Doubtless before the door stood a 
gentleman in a cocked hat and buckled shoes and plum-colored 
small-clothes, and by his side, ma3iiap, was a lady in a fine hat, 
with waving ostrich feathers, and a King Charles Spaniel chased 
across the lawn where now chases the white and woolly trick 
poodle." 

The lofty iron structure in front of the El Dorado grounds is 
a frame- work in which two big elevators travel up and down. 
Along its top runs a railroad which leads to the gate of the 
gardens and on over into Union Hill and to the race-track of 
Guttenberg. The square tower of the Union Hill water-works is 
seen beyond. The large wharves and ferry-landmgs just above 
it belong to the terminal station of the New York, West SJiore & 
Buffalo Railroad, familiarly called "West Shore," which passes 
through Bergen Ridge by a tunnel immediately in the rear of 
the station. Its ferryboats run thence to Franklin Street, down- 
town, and to the foot of W. 42d Street, nearly opposite. 

Above this poiot the shore becomes a series of bold rocks, 
crowned by the straggling houses and breweries of Union Hill 
and Guttenberg, with the Moorish towers of the distant monas- 
tery and church of the Passionist fathers as the only building 
worth mention. The cliffs gradually increase in height and 
abruptness, become more wooded, and are sparsely inhabited. 

Meanwhile, on the rigid the densely populous, busy part of 
the metropolis is rapidly gliding astern, and the best residential 
part, which succeeds it on this northerly high ground along the 
river, is now hidden by the verdant margin of 

Riverside Park and Drive. — This beautiful littoral park, 
says IngersoU's Week in Neio York,* lies along the high verge of 
the Hudson between 71st and 127th streets, and is reached by the 
Boulevard horse-cars, or, at the upper end, by the cable-cars 
along 125th Street to Fort Lee Ferry. It was the subject of an 
appreciative and artistically illustrated article by Wm. A. Stiles, 
editor of the popular horticultural journal. Garden and Forest, in 

*A Week in New York, By Ernest Ingersoll. Raud, McNally «fe Co 
Annual revision, 1892, p. 116. 



NEW YORK TO TAERYTOWN. 29 

The Century for October, 1885, from which the following remarks 
are coudensed : 

From 72d Street to tbe hollow known in the old maps as 
*' Marritje Davids' Fly" (valley), at what is now 127th Street, the 
river banks are bold, rising steeply at one point to the height of 
150 feet. "Down at the river level lies Twelfth Avenue, while 
upon the high ground, 800 feet inland, and parallel with the pier 
line, Eleventh Avenue cuts its way square across the long series of 
side streets. . . . Betwf en these two avenues, now approach- 
ing one iind now the other, winds Riverside Drive, following 
mainly the brow of the bluff, but rising and falling in easy grades, 
curving about the bolder projections, and everywhere adapting 
its course so graciously to tlie contour of the land that it does not 
look to have been laboriously laid out, but to have developed 
rather ns a part of the natural order of things. The broad shelf 
against the sloping bank, formed by the associated ways, is sup- 
ported on the low^er side by a massive retaining wall, at some 
points nearly forty feet in height, and this rises above the drive 
in a low% heavy parapet which extends throughout its entire length, 
fitly crowding and completing the dignified structure." 

Below this wall the land falls away to the river — a mass of 
woods and rocks, pretty to look at and pleasant to ramble through. 
The presence of the city branch of the Hudson River Railroad, 
which runs along the edge of the river here, to its freight yards 
down-town, detract somewhat from the natural beauty of the 
shore; but the scar of the tracks is not obtrusive. 

From this drive the views of the river and the wood-crowned 
heights above are most characteristic. The eye has free range 
to the north or south along the bright water-way, and covers 
prospects of great extent and the most varied interest. The 
crowning view^ of the whole series is that from Claremont 
Heights looking up the river. This is at the northern end of the 
park, where the grounds reach their greatest elevation. Here, 
overlooking a commanding prospect, and surrounded by quiet 
lawns, which keep at a reverential distance the "equipage and 
bravery of fashion," has been placed the Tomb of Gen. U. S. 
Grant, the first soldier of the restored Union. Here his body 
was interred after the impressive ceremonies of August 8, 
1885, and a massive memorial mausoleum is now approaching 
completion. 

This part of New York, just north of Claremont Heights, used 
to be Manhattanville, and the name is still heard in the neighbor- 
hood. The great buildings embowered in trees, upon the emi- 
nence behind it, are those of the Convent of the Sacred Heart and 
attached institutions. A half-mile farther, where the white mon- 
uments of Trinity Cemetery (the burial-ground of Trinity Church) 



30 NEW YORK TO TARKYTOWN. 

gleam among the foliage, the naturalist Audubon lived for many 
years, and there he is buried. The fine residences just north of 
the cemetery are built upon the grounds once surrounding his 
mansion, and form an undivided cluster called Audubon Park. 
This neighborhood was formerly the village of Carmansville, and 
it contains several benevolent institutions, among which the 
city's Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb is conspicuous by reason 
of its dome. It can accommodate 450 pupils, and dates from 
1817, when only one other institution of its kind existed in the 
country — that at Hartford, Conn. 

Then comes the elevation Washington Heights, of Revolu- 
tionary memories and modern social pre-eminence, with Jeffrey's 
Hook thrown out at its base. This and the Highlands northward 
are now threaded by streets, and dotted on the water-front with 
costly estates and great houses which enjoy an almost rural 
seclusion. The foliage of the trees that beautify the shore hides 
these houses almost completely; but it may be mentioned that 
among them are the former country-seats of James Gordon 
Bennett and A. T. Stewart. 

The next hill northward is now included under the district 
name Inwood^ but earlier it was called Cock Hill. It forms the 
extreme northern end of Manhattan Island. The little point and 
landing at its base is Tuhhy Hook, named from an ancient ferry- 
man, Tibers. Between this hill and Washington Heights is a deep 
vale through which the United States Government is now 
digging a canal by which ships of deep draught may pass from 
the Hudson to the Harlem and East rivers. Just behind it is the 
historic King's Bridge, and beyond, across the Spuyten Duyvil, 
are the war-scarred heights of Tippet's Hill. 

Historical. — All this is ground of deep interest to Americans, 
for it is identified with the early struggles of the Revolutionary 
War, in the dark days of '76. The defeat of the Patriot army, in 
the battle of Long Island, made it evident that New York, too, 
must be abandoned to the foe. The sick and wounded were hur- 
ried to New Jersey; the military stores and baggage were con- 
veyed up the Hudson to a fortified post at Dobbs Ferry, and 
Washington moved his headquarters to King's Bridge, where 
the old post-road and present Broadway crosses the Harlem. 
Thus driven fiom the city, the American army set to work to 
establish itself on these rocky heights, between the Hudson and 
the Spuyten Duyvil (see map), and upon this, the highest point, a 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 31 

fortification was constructed named Fort WasJiington. It was a 
strong earthwork, in tlie form of a pentagon, occupying, with its 
ravelins, the lofty hill between 181st and 186lh streets. Just to 
the northward, on the same rocky heights, was the redoubt called 
Fort Tryon; to the eastward was Fort George, looking down upon 
the Harlem River, while immediately below, a water-battery was 
erected upon Jeffrey's Hook, Cock Hill (now Inwood), Tippet's 
Hill, and the vicinity of King's Bridge were also fortified. 
Though these works were slight, their positions were naturally of 
great defense. Meanwhile, both armies maintained strongly pro- 
tected fronts, stretching across the whole breadth of Manhattan 
Island, and separated by the transverse valley north of Central 
Park, Skirmishes were of almost daily occurrence, and most 
frequently at the cost of the patriots, who, in addition to their 
wonted wretched condition, were dispirited to the last degree. 
Desertions from the camp were so numerous as to materially 
reduce its strength, and to disquiet even the bravest and most 
sanguine of the leaders themselves. Boats and ships-of-war were 
daily bearing the British flag triumphantly up the East River, and 
even up the Hudson, despite the obstructions upon which so much 
reliance had been placed. The cJievaux de frise, formed by old 
sloops sunk in the river, and the wonderful submarine batteries, 
were but straws in the way of the British vessels ; and the guns 
of Fort Washington and its twin fortresses Lee and Constitution, 
across on the Palisade shore, were quite as contemptuously disre- 
garded. 

Washington, at this time, desired, as did most of his officers, 
to evacuate Fort Washington, but was overruled by his respect for 
the wishes of Congress, which insisted that the post should be 
held. After the battle of White Plains (October 28, 1776), the 
whole army devoted itself to strengthening Fort Washington, and 
negligently allowed Lord Howe to get a supply of flatboats 
through the Spuyten Duyvil to King's Bridge, enabling him to 
ferry his troops over, and thus invest the works on every side. 
The following day (November 15tli), the fort was summoned to 
surrender, but refused. The next morning, Magaw, who was in 
command, proceeded to dispose of his forces, amounting in all 
to nearly 3,000 men, the greater part of whom were stationed out- 
side of the fort, for want of room within. The south side of the 
fort was menaced by Lord Percy with 1,600 men, and to oppose 
him. Col. Lambert Cadwallader was dispatched with a Penn- 
sylvania force of only half that number. Col. Rawlings of 
Maryland, with a company of riflemen, was placed by a small 
battery northward (Fort Tryon), to oppose Knyphausen, who, with 
his Hessians, was posted with cannon near King's Bridge. Col. 
Baxter of Pennsylvania held Fort George, to oppose an attack by 
Mathew from the Harlem side. The fourth proposed attack of 
the enemy was under Col. Sterling, who, as a feint, was to 
drop down the Harlem River on flatboats to the left of the fort. 



32 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

The enemy's several assaults were made simultaneously, begin- 
ning about noon of the I61I1, by booming cannon and volleys of 
musketry. Knypliuusen's division, commanded by himself and 
by Col. Rahl, conquered all the opposing obstructions of 
woods aud rocks, and, despite the bold defense of Rawlings, 
soon drove him and his force back to the fort. The Americans 
under Baxter were no less steady in their resistance, but with no 
better fortune. Baxter himself was killed, and his men driven 
back into the fort. Cadwallader, in the meanwhile, was making 
a brave defense to the southward against the enemy under Lord 
Percy; but he, loo, was at length compelled to retreat under the 
additional pressure of an attack by Gen. Mathew — who had 
previously driven in Baxter's division — and of the threatened 
approach, on the rear, (>f Col. Sterling. Thus were the assail- 
ants victorious at all points, though only after the most obstinate 
resislance everywhere, and wilh a terrible loss in killed and 
wounded. 

Washington and several of his officers were eager spectators 
of the disastrous struggle, from the opposite shore of the Hudson. 
When he saw the flag, which heraldc d the second summons to 
surrender, carried into the ill-fated fortress, he hastily wrote a 
note to Magaw, promising to bring off his garrison if he could 
sustain himself until evening. Tliis message was daringly deliv- 
ered by Capt. Gooch of Boston, who jiassed and repassed safely 
across the river and amidst the balls and bayonets of the British. 
The embassy was, however, too late. Magaw and his garrison 
were wholly in the power of their opponents, and nothing 
remained but to surrender themselves prisoners-of-war, with no 
other terms than the retention of their swords by the officers, and 
of their baggage by the men. "It was," said Lee, at the time, 
" a cursed affair." 

Thus ended the military history of Fort Washington, although 
it was repaired, and, as Fort Knyphausen, was long afterward 
garrisoned ])y the enemy. 

The New Jersey bank here is equally interesting histor- 
ically, and closely connected with the foregoing incidents, as will 
be seen presently. 

A wagon road runs along the base of the crags, and people 
live there in rustic fashion. Some factories — especially the great 
oil-works at Shadyside (anciently Bull's Ferry) — exist lower 
down, but above Guttenberg nothing of the sort mars the bank. 
Many of the residents are fishermen who set shad-nets in the 
spring, when their numbers are reinforced by men who come 
with their families from South Jersey. Roads climb inland, here 
and there, offering enjoyable rambles; and the landings at Shady- 
side, Edgewater, and Pleasant Valley are accessible several times 



NEW rORK TO TARRYTOWN, 33 

a day, from Canal and W. 22d streets, New York, by the steamer 
Pleasant Valley (fare, 10 cents). This rocky wall is still Bergen 
Ridge; but two miles above Weeliawken, and opposite Wash- 
ington Heights, Bergen Ridge trends inland behind a new and 
much higher wall of trap-rocks, which thereafter front the river 
for many miles — the Palisades of the Hudson. In the ravine- 
like space between the two ridges, which enables a wagon road to 
reach the plateau upon the summit, a village has Jong existed 
called Fort Lee after the fortification built upon the heights 
above it in 1776. 

For many years Fort Lee has been an excursion point and 
picnic-ground, and gradually it became the resort of a rough 
' element, who would land there by the barge load and hold no'sy 
revels. A few years ago, an ntiempt was made to redeem the 
place, and prepare it for a pleasure resort acceptable to a good 
class of customers. A great hotel has been built, and abundant 
means of refreshment and amusement are provided, while the 
scale of prices is moderate, and during the summer steamboats 
make frequent trips back and forth, from Canal, 13th, and 34th 
streets, JNew York, while the ferry at W. 129th Street (reached 
by the 125th Street cable cars) runs all the year round; but 
fashion has never smiled upon the place, though the view from 
its Palisades is worth a much longer journey. 

Historical. — The Revolutionary record of this western shore 
is intimately connected with that of Washington Heights. 

The promontory in which the Palisades begin was fortified, 
early in 1776, by two strong redoubts, of which the principal and 
uppermost one was named Fort Lee, after the eccentric Charles 
Lee, and was commanded by Greene, while the other was called 
Fort Constitution. After the fall of Fort Washington there 
remained no longer any hope of obstructing the passage of the 
Hudson at this point, and preparations were at once begun to 
abandon these Jersey forts also; but before it could be effected, 
Lord Cornwallis, crossing the river with a British detachment of 
6,000 men, endeavored to surround and capture this garrison also. 
His attempt was a failure. The American troops got safely away 
to the Hackensack, but were obliged to relinquish to the British all 
their artillery, except two twelve-pounders, and a great quantity of 
provisions and military stores. Washington's army, depicted by 
these losses, discouraged, melting away under expiring terms of 
service and desertion, totally unprepared to face the inclemency 
of the weather, or to build fortified winter quarters, was obliged 
to abandon even this poor line of defense and hasten southward 
to the Delaware River. 



34 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 



1 



After that the New Jersey shore was nominally in the posses- 
sion of the British, but was not regularly garrisoned, and became 
the scene of an incessant guerrilla warfare. Just north of the 
present Gutteuberg, where the woods begin at Shadyside, there 
was in those times the landing of Bull's Ferry to New York, 
where a farmer's road came down through a ravine. Between 
this road and the river a high and narrow ridge of rocks formed 
a headland, known since 1779 as Block-liouse Pointy in memory of 
a fierce and fruitless encounter which occurred there, and which 
was the occasion of a celebrated poem. 

The winter of 1779-80 was a season of almost unexampled 
severity. Sleighs crossed the Hudson for weeks without inter- 
ruption, and artillery was brought from Staten Island on the ice. 
Fuel became so scarce in New York that $t30 a cord was paid for 
wood, and the British authorities were forced to break up old 
ships to supply their troops with something to keep the fires 
going. Anticipating an equal scarcity the following winter, a 
great number of British sympathizers spent the next summer on 
these heights, w^est of the Hudson, in cutting dow^n the forests 
covering Bergen Ridge, and turning the logs into cordwood. 
But the American army along the Hackensack constantly sent 
out foraging parties, so that the Tory wood-cutters found their 
occupation precarious in point of profit and dangerous to life and 
limb. Moreover, most of these men had fled from inland places 
to the protection of the Royal army, including many ^vho w-ere 
guilty of robbery and other crimes, committed, in that lawless 
interval, upon friend and foe alike. Hence the whole crowd w^ere 
known as "refugees," and were so execrated by both sides that 
not only had they good cause to dread the American troopers, but 
were left by the British commander to build block-houses and 
defend themselves as best they might. Several such minor forts 
were constructed by w^ood-contractors along the hill-top, but the 
most important one stood on this point above Bull's Ferry. It 
was a large block-house of logs, inaccessible on two sides, and 
defended by breastworks and an abatis upon its vulnerable north- 
ern front, where the point of land was continuous with the plateau. 

In the summer of 1780, Washington was encamped near 
Suffern's, N. Y. His men were badly provisioned, and he 
knew that there had been collected on Bergen Neck, for the use 
of the British and the Tories, a large number of hoises, cattle, 
swine, and other desirable live stock, protected by these Refu- 
gees. He, therefore, ordered Gen. Anthony Wayne to take 
several regiments of Maryland and Pennsylvania troops, includ- 
ing cavalry, destroy it, and secure as many cattle and other pro- 
visions as possible. 

Wayne marched quietly to Liberty Pole (now Englewood), 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 35 

where he divided his command. A part went straight to the 
river above Englewood Landing, and hid tliemselves in the 
woods, wliile Wayne led the remainder down the hacli roads to 
the top of tlie ridge near Fort Lee, wliere he turned southward 
and was soon discovered by the wood -cutters, who fled to their 
block-house and prepared to resist the onslaught. 

While Wayne, with the infantry and artillery, moved steadily 
against it, the cavalry under Maj. Moylan, mounting an extra 
man behind each dragoon, swept on to the pastures of Wee- 
hawken and Hoboken, gatheit d up every four-footed beast they 
could find, and drove tliem with the utmost haste toward Wash- 
ington's camps; a raid long remembered there. 

Meanwhile, Wayne had made a most spirited attack, but the 
defense was obstinate, and his little six-pounders were too light 
to demolish the fortificalions. Moreover, a\ hen success seemed 
near, word came that the Euglish were crossing in force and were 
likely to intercept and capture the whole expedition. A retreat 
was therefore ordered, and the command hurried away, having 
suffered a loss of sixty-four men in killed and wounded. Wayne 
and Washington were both deep!}'' disappointed; and their dis- 
gust was not lightened by learning that the leported reinforce- 
ments was a false alarm, and that, moreover, if tradition may be 
believed, the enemy was almost out of ammunition and must 
have succumbed in a few moments. The door of this block- 
house may now be seen in the museum of Washington's head- 
quarters at Newburgh. 

This skirmish was a source of so great satisfaction to the 
British, that the King himself sent his personal congratulations 
to the Refugees, who did really make a most gallant defense; and 
it inspired Maj. Andr(j, then on the staff of Sir Henry Clinton, 
in New York, to write his satirical verses, " The Cow Chase." 
They make a long rollicking ballad, especially interesting from 
the coincidence connected with the last verse, which runs thus: 

And now I've closed my epic strain, 

I tremble as I show it, 
Lest this same warrio-drover Wayne 

Should ever catch the poet. 

On the day this was printed, in Rimngton's Gazette, Maj. 
Andr6 was captured as a spy ; and the commander of the division 
of the American army to which his captors belonged, and where 
he was tried and executed, was Gen. Anthony Wayne! 

Palisades of the Hudson is the term long since applied to 
that escarpment of roughly columnar basaltic trap which gushed 



36 NEW YORK TO TAKRYTOWN. 

out of a crack in the earth's crust in early Triassic time, and 
now, with its fool-slope of fallen fragments, forms the western 
wall of the river for twenty miles to the Tappan Sea. The face 
is nearly straight, almost uniform in height, rising from an 
altitude of 350 feet, half a mile above Fort Lee, to 550 feet near 
its northern extremity. 

The front is everywhere jjrecipitous, aud the bare rock is 
exposed in that vertical formation characteristic of basalt, from 
which has come the name; a natural suggestion to the early 
comers here, who were so familiar with stockades made of logs 
set on end. Breaks sufficient to enable wagon roads to descend 
to the river occur in only three places, and scarcely more oppor- 
tunities exist for the hardiest foot-climber to descend; it is in fact 
a narrow ridge, flat-topped, tree-grown, and falling suddenly 
away on the inner side into a deep valley dividing it from Bergen 
Ridge. 

This long escarpment, so gray and undiversified, half bare of 
trees, and showing only here and there a little house, or, worse, a 
great scar where men are tearing down the rocks to cut into 
paving-blocks or crush as road-metal, is more forbidding than 
beautiful as seen from a steamer's deck or from the opposite 
bank, with the broad river to dwarf its height; but when one 
skirts its base in a canoe, especially at morning or on a somewhat 
cloudy day, the grandeur of height and warmth of color are 
perceived, and better justify the encomiums of early writers. 

A road runs along the top, and it is possible to stroll upon the 
very edge from Fort Lee some two miles, as far as the end of 
Englewood Avenue, opposite Spuyten Duyvil, and there to enjoy 
one of ihe most striking scenes America has to show; a privilege, 
however, that too few avail themselves of. "The opposite low, 
verdant shore, for a long distance to the north, affords a varied 
and charming picture; while below, the eye reaches to the far-off 
metropolis and its crowded bay. The palisade wall, apparently 
so uniform, is broken into pinnacles and deep clefts, and all the 
scene, from a close survey, is full of picturesque variety." 

One would suppose that this lofty, bieezy ridge so near the 
city, and affording views so extended and superb, would have 
long ago been fully occupied by country-houses and summer 
pleasure-places, but such are few and inconspicuous. Formerly 
a famous hotel — the Palisade Mountain House — stood upon the 
cliff opposite Riverdale, but it was burned in 1884. 

The Eastern side of the river now presents a vivid contrast to 



NEW YORK TO TARKYTOWN. 37 

the solitary and inaccessible Palisades. It is low, verdant, and 
thickly inhabited. Having passed the heights of Fort Washing- 
ton and Inwood, the valley of the Spuyten Duyvil (Dutch 'Spyt 
den duixel) opens to view, but the stream itself is hidden by the 
railroad drawbridge underneath which the tide flows ia and out 
between the Hudson and the Harlem. This marks the northern 
end of Manhattan Island, and affords an opportunity for the main 
tracks of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad to reach 
the bank of the Hudson from its city station in the Grand Central 
Depot, on42d Street. The railway station against the rocks, just 
north of the valley, is Spuyten Duyvil, where the 30th Street 

; branch, which follows the lower river's edge, joins the main line. 
At the end of the vista up the valley is seen the neighborhood of 
King's Bridge, which was the scene of several hard skirmishes 

j in the early part of the Revolution, and later was held as the 

' northern outpost of the British army in New York. 

Irving's facetious explanation of the curious name of this 
stream or tideway has long been laughed over by the readers of 
"Diedrich Knickerbocker's" JTutory of New York; but it may 
not be generally known that the tale which follows is only an 

I enlargement of a real and fatal exhibition of foolhardiness on the 
part of a young Dutchman; long before Stuyvesant's time, how- 

i ever. The story will bear repeating, as Diedrich tells it, and is 
as follows: 

Anthony Van Corlear, the trumpeter of Governor Stuyve- 
sant, was sent post-haste, upon the appearance of the ships of the 
English Duke of York in the harbor, to warn the farmers up the 
river and summon them to the defense of New Amsterdam. He 
had reached tbis stream, where there was then no bridge. " The 
wind was high, the elements in an uproar, and no Charon could 
be found to ferry the adventurous sounder of brass across the 
water. For a short time he vapored like an intelligent ghost 
upon the brink, and then, bethinking himself of the urgency of 
his errand (to arouse the people to arms), he took a hearty embrace 
of his stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim 
across in spite of the devil {en spyt den dtiyvel), and daringly 
plunged into the stream. Luckless Anthony! Scarcely had he 
buffeted half-way over, when he was observed to struggle vio- 
lently, MS if battling with the spirit of the waters. Instinctively 
he put his trumpet to his mouth, and, giving a vehement blast, 
sank forever to the bottom! The clangor of his trumpet rang far 
and wide through the country, alarming the neighbors round, 
who hurried in amazement to the spot. Here an old Dutch 
4 



38 NEW YORK TO TAIiRYTOWN. 

burgher, famed for his veracity, and who had been a witness of 
tlie fact, related to them the melancholy affair, with the fearful i 
addition (to which lam slow in giving belief) that he saw the | 
duyvil. in the shape of a huge moss-bunker, seize the sturdy 
Au'ihouy by the leg, and drag'him beneath the waves. Certain 
it is, llie place has been called Spuyten Duyvil ever since." 

The high point of laud between the Spuyten Duyvil and Hud- 
son, now covered with residences, the Mohicans called Nipnichsen, 
and the Dutch Constable's Point, after its owner. At the time 
of the Revolution, when owned by the Tippet family, it was 
repeatedly fortified and known as Tippet's Hill, but no incident 
of much public moment happened there. This little cross-valley 
seems to have been thickly inhabited by Indians. It was here 
that Henry Hudson had that fight with the ' 'Manhattoes," or Island 
Indians, who wished to board his little vessel, and got shot for 
their pains. One great attraction, no doubt, was the abundance 
of fish — a recommendation that still holds good. Great hauls of 
shad are made every spring off the mouth of the Spuyten Duyvil, 
and the angling for striped bass and the like, along its rocky 
course, furnishes amusement to many a leisurely citizen. 

The city of New York long ago overflowed Manhattan Island, 
and its limits extend northward on this side to Yonkers, three 
miles above the Spuyten Duyvil. This lofty and beautiful shore, 
however, still keeps its early village names, Riverdale and Mou7it 
St. ViTicent^ and is dotted with the country -like estates of wealthy 
citizens, such families as that of the late Wm. E. Dodge, the 
philanthropic merchant; the Appletons, of the famous publishing 
house; Robert Colgate, ex-Postmaster-General James, and others. 
These are in Riverdale, whose railway station is next above 
Spuyten Duyvil, at the water's edge. A mile farther up is seen 
the station for Mount St. Vincent, a locality taking its name from 
the great convent on the hill-top, where were formerly the castle- 
like residence and estate, "Font Hill," of the actor, Edwin 
Forrest. 

" Mount St. Vincent," remarks the editor oi Picturesque Amer- 
ica, "is an extensive Roman Catholic convent-school for girls, 
which is famous for the excellence of its educational system; but, 
unfortunately, the huge building erected here can not be said to 
form an attractive feature of the river scenery. It is out of har- 
mony with the landscape, and . . . utterly dwarfs Font 
Hill, which, before the erection of the vast unhandsome mass 



*»» I 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 39 

behind it, was a striking and interesting feature of the river 
shore. Now, if one can manage to shut out from his vision the 
mammoth pile behind it, he can get a partial idea of its claims to 
the picturesque. It must be admitted, however, that a castle on 
the banks of the Hudson is a piece of sheer affectation. The pile 
looks very small from the river, and must necessarily disappoint 
those who associate size and grandeur with the idea of a castle, 
although one frequently finds abroad castles with no better pre- 
tension in the way of extent, however superior may be their 
claims on the ground of antiquity." 

The convent is more than a school, however, for it is the head- 
quarters in America of the great order of Sisters of Charity, 
numbering over 1,500 under its immediate jurisdiction, and 
forming a general home hospital and retreat. 

After the heights of Mount St. Vincent have been passed, the 
land sinks somewhat, and busy civilization reappears. The new 
station Ludlow, at this point, recalls the old-time rural property 
here of the Ludlow family. Then succeeds 

The City of Yonkers. — The water front, where the railway, 
and steamers, and street-cars meet at the central wharf, is solid with 
warehouses, for here are many important manufacturing estab- 
lishments — mower and reaper works, gutta-percha and rubber, 
silk, carpet, and hat factories, machine and elevator works, and 
the shops of the Eagle Pencil Company. Above these, embow- 
ered in trees, rise the shops and houses of 35,000 inhabitants. 
Yonkers is connected with New York not only by the Hudson 
River Railroad, but also by the New York & Putnam Railroad, 
and is a calling place for all lines of steamers. It has a score of 
churches and a long list of religious, benevolent, and fra- 
ternal societies ; a high school and seven grammar schools, bu t 
no public library ; paid police and fire departments, with 
police and fire-alarm telegraphs, connected with New York's 
system ; four banks and a safe-deposit company ; electric street- 
cars, which run to the suburbs north, east, and south, and pass 
Getty Square, the City Hall, and the most central hotels. 
The leading social clubs are the Yonkers, whose house is 1017 
Broadway, and the City, on Getty Square — an open space in 
the center of the city where several streets converge. There is 
an athletic club (63 Main Street), with good grounds; but the 
facilities for aquatic sports have given these pre-eminence there, 
and along the shore, at the northern suburb Olenwood, a station 



40 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

Oil the Hudson River Railroad, are the houses of the Corinthian 
and Yonkers Yacht rlubs, the Yonkcrs Boat Club, and the Yon- 
kiTs Canoe Club. The Bicycle and Photographic clubs should 
also he mentioned. It is thus apparent that athletic and outdoor 
sports receive an unusual amount of attention at the hands of its 
cili/ens. The National Guard is represented by the Fourth Sep- 
arate Company, whose armory is on Waverly Street. 

Tlie town, as a whole, has no great pretensions to beauty— 
though AVarburl on Avenue, and some other streets in the north- 
ern part, fronting the river, are rapidly acquiring it— and con- 
tains little of interest to the stranger. Two objects, however, 
are worthy of attention, the more so as they successfully recall 
tlie early history of the locality. These are the City Hall, called 
" Manor Hall " because the building was the home of the Lord of 
the Manor of Phillipsburgh in colonial times; and St. John's 
Protestant Episcopal Church, a beautiful house of worship, with 
an interesting story. The best hotel is Arlington Inn, on South 
Broadway. 

Henry Hudson, and the Dutch traders after him, found here a 
Mohican village, named Nappechemak, at the mouth of a rapid 
little stream, now spelled Nepperhan. Settlements were made by 
the Dutch AVest-India Company in this township as long ago as 
1G39; at least, lands were purchased of the native Indian Sachems 
at that early period, and soon thereafter occupied. These, after 
a time, passed into the hands of a burgher of Manhattan, Adriaen 
Van der Donck, who acquired a far wider area than the present 
city covers, and was, by royal patent, created a Patroon, whose 
estate was called Coloudonck. It has been supposed that " Yon- 
kers" is a corruption of his patronymic, but a better explanation 
is, that when a viUage began to grow up at this landing it was 
called the Jonk Ileer's (i. e., young lord's), in compliment to the 
Patroon; whence Jonker's, and gradual!}' (the J being like the 
English y) the modern spelling. At that time this village was 
called Upper Yonkers, and the region now covered by Van Cort- 
landt Park, in New York City, was Lower Yonkers, The latter 
was conveyed to the Van Cortlandts, Avho intermarried with the 
Van der Doncks; and the upper half was laier sold to Frederick 
Phillipse, the tirst. 

The Phillii>se or Phillipg family, which owned extensive lands 
northward, and whose favorite residence theretofore had been at 
" Castle Phillipse," yet standing by the old mill in Sleepy Hollow, 
at once took possession, and obtained from the English King a 
patent creating the property into the Manor of Phillipsburgh. 
Phillipse liad anticipated this dignity, not perfected until 1693, 
by erecting, in 1082, the front part of the present City Hall as 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 41 

his manor-house; and it was completed by the addition of the 
back part in 1745. This old liouse is still elegant, and in its 
time must have been a very notable place. Having put his house 
in order, the now reigning lord of the manor, a second Frederick 
Phillipse, bethought him of more heavenly things, and erected a 
stone church, as he was bound to do by reason of owning the 
living. It was, of course, of the Established Church of England, 
was called St. John's, and was completed in 1752; but services 
had been held in the parish ever since 1694. 

At this time one of his daughters, Mary, born in the manor- 
house, July 3, 1730, was growing up to be the belle of all the 
country-side. A few years later (1756) George Washington, then 
a colonel wearing the laurels which he alone, almost, had brought 
from the disastrous Braddock campaign, was visiting in New 
York at the liouse of Beverly Robinson, a man of wealth and 
cultivation, who afterward became prominent as a leader of 
Tories, and especially in connection with the Arnold and Andre 
affair. Robinson's wife was the eldest daughter of Phillips •, and 
there Washington met and fell in love with her younger sister, 
the beautiful Mary Phillipse. The affection was not declared, 
however, and the young Virginian ^^■ent back to his plantations, 
confiding his secret to a friend who wrote him frequently of the 
social doings of the young lady and her friends. Finally, Wash- 
ington was informed that a suitor had appeared in the person of 
Col. Roger Morris, who had been an associate on Braddock 's 
staff, and was advised to make haste to come to New York 
and contest his claim He did not do so — why, no one knows — 
and the belle became the wife of his rival; but there is no founda- 
tion for the tradition that Washington had offered himself and 
had been refused. 

Yonkers grew apace, and the Nepperhan, which had been 
trained to work a saw-mill, and hence had come to be called Saw 
Mill Creek even in Van der Donck's time— soon turned the 
wheels of several mills, and to-day is hidden between factories. 
When men were taking sides at the approach of the Revolution, 
the Frederick Phillipse of that day — third lord of the manor — 
endeavored to remain neutral; but, although Washington stayed 
more than once under his roof, he fell under suspicion of a lean- 
ing toward royalty, and his property was confiscated by act of 
Legislature in 1779, and was sold by the Commissioners of For- 
feiture in 1785 — the year of his death in England. Complications 
followed, which were cleared up by a sale of the whole thing 
to John Jacob Astor, from whom the Government had to re-buy 
it, at a very long advance, in order to confirm the tenants and 
holders of \ arts in their titles. The manor-house was occupied 



42 NEW YORK TO TARTITTOWN. 

as a private residence by various families until 1868, when it was 
inircha-sed l)y the Village of Yonkers, and finally became the City 
Hall in 1872. It was the scene of a notable historical celebration 
in 1882; and in front of it now stands a lofty and admirable 
Soldiers' i\Ionument to citizens who fell in the Civil War. 

The Re volution an/ Imtoi-y of Yonkers was full of lively inci- 
dents, though no battle of moment occurred near it, except the 
memorable engagement in the harbor in 1777, between the British 
frigates Hose and Phenix, at anchor, and the oared gunboats of 
the i)at riots, which were rowed out of the mouth of theNeppcrhan. 
having in low a large tender, filled with combustibles, intended to 
be placed alongside of the frigates as a fire-ship. The sailors, 
however, kept it off by means of spars, and a heavy fire of grape 
and canister compelled the gunboats and their brave crews to 
seek shelter near shore. The attempt was witnessed by Gen- 
erals Heath, Clinton, and others, and came very near succeeding. 

During the whole war — after the American army, in 1776, had 
retreated from its hills, following the disastrous campaign about 
White Plains — Yonkerswas the center of the uncovered "neutral'' 
tract between the Britisli posts at King's Bridge and those of the 
American army above. This unlucky tract was the foraging 
ground of both'parties, and the rendezvous of the opposing bands 
of reprobates known as the Skinners and the Cow Boys — the for- 
mer claiming to act in the service of the Americans, and the 
latter under the Britisli l)anner. As far as the quiet folks of the 
devoted neighborhood were concerned, there was not much 
choice between the rival bands, since they both served them- 
selves, no matter whether at the cost of friend or of foe. What 
with the escapades of these fellow\«, and with the marches and 
counter-marches above and below them, and with now and then 
a serious skirmish, the " neutral ground " was a busy region at 
the time, and abounds in such reminiscences of adventure as 
J. Fenimore Cooper has utilized in his story The Spy. 

St. John's Church persisted, and for many years was an interest- 
ing relic of colonial architecture; but in 1870 it was replaced by 
the present spacious, costly, and very beautiful Gothic building 
on Getty Square, which contains a carved font of Italian marble 
and workmanship, a beautiful pulpit of brass, and several 
memorial windows of high artistic excellence. 

This structure largely exceeds in size the earlier church; but 
the south wall includes, near the base, a large part of the wall of 
the original church, and the low, arched, old-fashioned door, which 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 43 

has thus been preserved as a filling relic of the early condition. 
Attached are a series of picturesque parish buildings connecting 
the noble church with the rectory; and in the wall which incloses 
the church yard is arranged a public drinking-fountain, having 
an artistic bronze tablet where the invitation to drink is coupled 
with the appropriate citation, John iv; 13, 14: Whosoever drinketh 
of this water shall thirst again; hut whosoemr drinketh of the 
water that I shall give him shall never tJdrst, but the water that I 
shall give him shall be in him a loell of water springing up into 
everlasting life. 

The best part of Yonkers is northward of the business center, 
especially along Warburton Avenue, a street which lies parallel 
with the river and part way up the hillside, where the tall brown- 
stone steeple of the Baptist Church is conspicuous from the water. 
Above this street are Palisade Avenue and (jSTorth) Broadway, while 
Alta and Park Hill avenues (see p. 24) are other very handsome 
streets, bordered with beautiful residences. An interesting walk is 
to climb the hill, from the trolley-car line to Broadway, and go out 
along it for a mile or more. This is the old turnpike, and really a 
continuation of Broadw^ay in the city of New York, so that it comes 
rightly by this name, which, in fact, is applied to it in all the river 
towns, at least as far as Sing Sing. The road is macadamized, laid 
with water, and lighted by gas far north of the city, and bordered 
by elegant properties, of which the residence of C. H. Lillienthal, 
indicated from the river by a brown-stone battlemented tower, is a 
good example. A far more famous homestead, however, is that 
somewhat above, to be recognized from the river by a lofty gray 
tower, surmounted by an ornamental iron railing; for this is the 
country-house of the late Governor and Presidential candidate, 
Samuel J. Tilden, who became known throughout the Union as 
the Sage of " Greystone." The large grounds are especially 
noteworthy for the magnificent trees that grow in forest-like pro- 
fusion along the avenues of approach and on the river slopes. 

Next above Yonkers comes Hastings. The village itself, 
where there are a railway station and small steamboat landing, 
and the works of an asphalt pavement concern, is of small account; 
but the high shore is closely set with homes of wealthy men, of 
which Dr. Huyler's, just above the landing, is most conspicuous 
by reason of its clock-tow^er and windmill. Just below this is 
the yellow boat-house of the Tower Ridge Athletic Club, whose 
grounds for tennis, etc., are elaborately laid out on the hill above. 



44 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

The village is much the same as when T. Addison Richards I 
sketched here, thirty years ago, and wrote out his impressions for i 
The Knickerbocker (magazine), thus: 

"The hamlet — for, the more stately villa-edifices apart, such 
it is — lies snugly nestled in the depths of a beautiful glen, or 
spreads quietly away upon its verdant acclivities and lofty ter- 
races, looking into the shades of old woods, and listening to the 
murmurs of running brooks below, and gazing far up and down 
the broad river above. In the olden time, that is to say in the 
days of our revolution, the region around was the domain of the 
worthy farmer, Peter Post, whose patriotism on one occasion 
subjected him to an experience which he remembered, no doubt, 
with less pleasure than we do now. At the period referred to he 
assisted the patriots, under Col. Sheldon, to surprise a party 
of marauding Hessians, beguiling them into the belief that the 
Americans, whom they were pursuing, had moved on in a certain 
direction, while they were snugly ambushed conveniently in the 
rear. 

"'The Hessians, deceived by his answer,' says the story, 
according to Bolton, in his History of the County of Westchester, 
' were proceeding at full gallop through the lane, when a shrill 
whistle rang through the air, instantly f ollow^ed by the impetuous 
charge of Sheldon's horse. Panic-stricken, the enemy fled in 
every direction, but the fresh horses of the Americans carried 
their gallant riders wherever a wandering ray disclosed the steel 
cap of the brilliant accouterments of a Hessian. A bridle-path 
leading from the place of ambush to the river was strew^ed with 
the dead and dying, while those who sought safety in the water 
were captured, cut to pieces, and drowned. The conflict, so 
short and bloody, was decisive. One solitary horseman was seen 
galloping off in the direction of Yonkers, and he alone, wounded 
and unarmed, reached the camp of Col. Emmerick in safety. 
Here he related the particulars of the march, the sudden onset and 
retreat. Astonished and maddened with rage, Emmerick started 
his whole command in pursuit. Poor Post was stripped for his 
fidelity, and after having a sufficient number of blows inflicted 
upon his person, left for dead.' " 

Earlier than this, however, Hastings had acquired notoriety 
from the fact that there Cornwallis embarked his army for the 
subjugation of Fort Lee, following the capture of Fort Wash- 
ington. 

A charming walk or bicycle-run of li miles may be taken 
from Hastings northward to Dobbs Ferry, along the old post-road, 
which is shaded all the way, mainly by ancient locust trees; and 
no walls or high hedges prevent a view of the orderly and tasteful 
grounds that continuously border the avenue. 

Dobbs Ferry is an exceedingly pretty village, whose homely 



NEW YORK TO TARRTTOWN. 45 

name is the bequest of the ancient family of Dobbs ("Dobb — his 
ferry," says Mr, Sparrowgrass), who whilome farmed and fei'ried 
the contiguous land and water. As early as 1698 there lived here 
or hereabouts a Jan Dobs and his wife, who were members of the 
now venerable old church in Sleepy Hollow. The village covers 
hill and dell, rising charmingly from the river shore to the crests 
of lofty ridges, and is planted thick vrith sumptuous homes. There 
is one summer hotel, the " Glen Tower," whose yellow front and 
fine grounds overlook the river below the station, and a boarding- 
house or two; but none of the villages in this part of the country 
are "resorts," being composed almost wholly of those who own 
and occupy their premises the most of, if not all, the year. Just 
above the village is "Nuits," the residence of F. Cottinet, a beau- 
tiful Italian structure of imported Caen stone. Adjoining it, 
northward, stands " Nevis," the estate of the late Col. James 
Hamilton, son and biographer of Alexander Hamilton, and next 
beyond, the home of George L. Schuyler. 

Dobhs Ferry was an important post in the Rewlution, and the 
rendezvous of each army alternately. It was here that the British 
troops mustered after the battle of White Plains, and before 
marching to the assault upon Fort Washington. In January, 
1777, Lincoln and his detachment of the patriot army encamped 
here a while. Later (1781), Washington established the American 
army headquarters at the Livingston manor-house, somewhat 
iuland from the village, and the mansion was subsequently iden- 
tified with many political events. There, in 1783, George Clinton 
and Sir Guy Carletou, the British commander, met to confer on 
the subject of the evacuation of the city of New York by the 
British forces. Although known as the Livingston manor-house, 
this house did not come into the possession of the Livingston family 
until after the Revolution. It was originally built by a Dutch 
farmer, who leased it from the lord of the Phillipse manor; the 
Phillipse estate being sequestered by the Government at the close 
of the war, this farm was purchased by Peter Van Brugli Liv- 
ingston, with 500 acres, and it became henceforth known as the 
"Livingston Manor." The fortifications were mainly by the pres- 
ent railway station — one of the best examples of those hijous of 
architecture in rose granite, red sandstone, and hardwoods with 
which the New York Central Company is ornamenting the river 
route from one end to the other — and were intended for the pro- 
tection of the rowboat ferry to Paramus, now Sneden's Landing, 
directly opposite, and a mile or two above the northern boundary 
of New Jersey. These batteries were a sore vexation to the Brit- 
ish ships, which were wont to cruise up the river, and attempt to 



40 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

ravage the shores. In Julv, 1781, some British frigates that had 
pa^si-d up tho river a few days before, took advantage of wind 
jiiid ti(h' lo return to New York, thus exposing themselves to a 
sc'viTe camionadnig from tliese batteries. They returned the fire, 
but w iihout elTe(t:"and Thatcher relates that on board one of them, 
the Sir,if/r, a b(».\ of powder took tire, whereu})on twenty men 
leaped iiito the river, onlv one of whom, an American prisoner, 
reached the sliore. Tliis" ve.'^sel was nearly sunk by the w^ell- 
directed halls. Tiie first treasonable interview between Arnold 
and Andre w.is to huve been held here, but by some mischance 
did not take place. 



The Palisades, to glance again at the western shore, here 
attain their highest point, which is found in Indian Head {550 
feet) directly opposite Hastings. Somewhat below there the 
precipitous wall is broken by a ravine, in the mouth of which 
have been built several summer hotels and dancing pavilions, 
resorted to by cheap steamboat excursion and picnic parties, more 
noisy than nice in their methods of amusement. A ferry connects 
the place with Yonkers. This ravine is called Alpine Gorge, and 
a road zigzags up to tlie top of the ridge and over to the village 
of Closter, N.J. It was formerly known as Closter Landing, and 
here Lord Grey disembarked his dragoons on that evening in Octo- 
ber, 1778, wlien he galloped over to the Hackensack Valley, and 
surprised and massacred Col. Baylor's company of patriots, despite 
their surrender and calls for mercy — an act which British as well 
as American historians have execrated as a disgrace, not only 
to Englishmen, but to all humanity. 

This part of the river used to be called the Great Chip Bock 
Reach, a term which extends to the end of the Palisades, where 
New Jersey is left and New York State (Rockland County) begins 
on that side of the river. Here, opposite Dobbs Ferry, is seen a 
deep glen, up which goes the old highway to Tappan, and so 
southward into New Jersey. This was known as Paramus when, 
in 1770, Cornwallis landed here and marched his men up the old 
road, but now it is Sneden's Landing. The Sneedens (or Sny- 
den.s) were a family of Tories, early advertised as enemies by the 
local authorities. The sliore gradually bends backward, and we 
see before us the broadening space of the Tappan Sea— the name 
given to the lake-like expanse of the river from the Palisades 
north to Croton Point. A mile above is Piermont, whence a 



I 



NEW YOKK TO TARRYTOWN. 47 

wharf a mile or more long, bearing derricks and coal-pockets, 
juts out to deep water. It was built many years ago by the Erie 
Railway Company to facilitate the river shipment of their freights, 
when it was expected to be the chief, if not their only, river 
terminus. Now it is devoted almost entirely to the transfer of 
coal from cars to barges. The coal business of the Erie Railway 
is very large, giving nearly as much revenue as their passenger 
traflac; and all of it destined for New York comes this way, 
while that for New England is transferred at Newburgh. 

"Few portions of the Hudson," as Richards has remarked, 
"are so rich in natural beauties as the vicinage of Piermont, 
wiiere the mighty mirror of the Tappan Sea reflects the purple 
shades and the golden sunshine of grand mountain acclivities 
and of most picturesque headlands. Back of the village, on the 
west, the land steps in noble terraces from the waterside to the 
lofty crests of Tower Hill. To the southward, the Palisades rise 
in majesty; and above, the bay is shut in by the superb cliffs of 
the promontory, known as Point-no-Point, or more familiarly as 
the Hook Mountain." 

This Tower Hill, by-the-by, is one well worth the attention of 
climbers. It can be reached by way of Nyack, or more easily by 
the Northern Railroad of New Jersey, and will well repay a walk 
to its summit, where there is an observatory. Fiom this platform 
the hills and valleys of Westchester County, the Sound, and Long 
Island and the Atlantic Ocean can be seen; to the south, the 
heights of Hoboken bound the horizon; to the west, the Orange 
Mountains — some peaks of wliich are more than forty miles away 
— the Ramapo Gap, and the site of Tuxedo Park; and, linally, to 
the north a vast sea of mountain tops, comprising some of the 
Catskill and Berkshire ranges, stretches darkly and grandly to the 
distant horizon. It is a view that always pleases and almost inva- 
riably calls forth superlative exclamations of delight. 

For many years one of the cottages on the Piermont slope was 
that of Letois Gaylord Clark, the friend of Irving, his associate 
in the publication of Salmagundi, and long-time"editor of The 
Knickerbocker. Sparkill, a favorite summer residence with city 
people, and historic old Taqypan, where Andre was hung, and 
where so many other things of life and death happened durmg the 
War for Independence, are only just back of the shore hills. 

From Bobbs Ferry to Irvington, to return to the eastern shore 
of the Tappan Sea, is about V/^ miles, and may be covered by a 
delightful walk along the old Croton Aqueduct. Walk from the 
railway station along the main street of Dobbs Ferry as far as its 
turn to the right, when the stile and path down to the top of the 



48 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

aqueduct will be seen. This pjith leads straight across the fields, 
giving occasional glimpses of the river and of the finest houses, 
in a much better way, and at far less expense of time and labor, 
than by following the roundabout course of Broadway. Mrs. 
Henry Draper, widow of the eminent scientific author, lives near 
where the aqueduct is first encountered; and farther on Gen. 
Sanmel Thomas; while the comfortable and spacious country- 
house of the late Cyrus W. Field is seen upon the higher ground 
to the right, above Broadway. As Irvington is approached, the 
houses along a deep glen form the Ahbottsford neighborhood, and 
are owned by such prominent persons as David Dows and Joseph 
Stiner (the house with a large dome) and others. 

THE CROTON AQUEDUCTS. 

The aqueduct alluded to above is that " old" one which has 
conducted water from the Croton River to New York for half a 
century. It was finished in 1842, is of brick, and is placed on or 
lu'ar the surface, occasionally tunneling under high ground, and 
ai^ain spanning some ravine upon arches, as particularly across 
Kill Brook in Sing Sing, where the structure is most picturesque 
— a single stone arch seventy feet high, and having a span of 
eigiity-eight feet. In general, it follows the old post-road, and is 
traceable by its white stone ventilating towers nearly all the way 
from the mouth of the Croton to the beautiful High Bridge by 
which it is carried across the Harlem River. It conducts nearly 
100,000,000 gallons a day, but long ago proved inadequate, and 
after much preliminary work the construction of a second con- 
duit from the Croton Valley to the city was begun in January, 
1884, and was completed in 1890. 

The Neio Agueduct consists of a brick tunnel, laid in an almost 
jicrfectly straight line from Croton Lake to the Harlem near 
High Bridge, through the solid rock, and at an average depth of 
500 feet below the surface. This tunnel is thirty miles long and 
fourteen feet in diameter, and delivers over 300,000,000 of gallons 
each twenty-four hours. At times as many as 10,000 men w-ere 
employed upon it, and the total cost was $25,000,000. Nothing 
to equal it in magnitude of engineering is known in any other 
part of the world. 

The Croton flows from the Highlands southward to its 
debouchment into the Hudson at Sinir Sing. It drains a basin, 
I)opularly called the Croton water-shed, having an area of 338 
scjiiare miles, above the present Croton dam. This region is a 
hilly country full of ponds and brooks, the surface of which is 
gravel overlyino- a hard and impervious gneissic rock. Much of 
it is covered with second-growth woods, and the cleared portion is 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 49 

devoted mainly to dairying. The rapidity of the main river and 
many of its tributaries has, however, invited the utilization of 
the water-power and many mills and factories have sprung up, 
while the population of the valley has greatly increased, and 
hotels and boarding-houses are enlarged and added to annually. 
Most of these, deliberately or accidentally, drain their refuse into 
the Croton, and thence into the city's drinking supply. Thus 
far the oxygenating power of the sunshine and running water 
have sufficed to overcome these befoulments and keep the water 
wholesome, if not as pure as when sent down from the hills and 
filtered through the gravel-beds; but the time will soon be at 
hand when it will be vitally important to check this menace to 
the health of the metropolis by reserving a broad park-like 
margin along the principal streams, and around the many artifi- 
cial reservoirs which store the winter's rains against summer's 
drouth, from human occupation; or perhaps, finally, by evicting 
the whole population of the water-shed Those interested in the 
details of construction and management of this wonderful aque- 
duct and system of water-supply will find a valuable illustrated 
article upon it in Tlie Century (magazine), Vol. XVII, December, 
1889, p. 205. 

Irvington, the river-landing and railroad station next north of 
Hastings, at the foot of the Tappan Sea, is a village of compara- 
tively recent growth, inhabited, in great part, by the families of 
gentlemen whose place of business is in New York. "The river 
is here about three miles wide, and the sloping hills that look 
over this tranquil bay are literally covered with beautiful villas 
and charming grounds. At no point on the Hudson are there 
more evidences of wealth and refinement, and this locality around 
Irvington is noted as one of the most aristocratic suburbs of the 
great metropolis. Many of these palatial structures are furnished 
with the choicest that art and wealth can produce, and are the 
abodes of luxury, culture, and the most exquisite taste." 

THE STORY OF SUNNYSIDE. 

This village is named in honor of Washington Irving, whose 
fancy and pen have informed the whole district with immortal 
interest. As usual, it is delightful to walk, or wheel, or drive 
along the ancient highway through and northward of Irvington; 
but the object of special interest, Irving's home at *' Sunnyside," 
can not be seen from that road, since it stands close to the river 
bank, three-fourths of a mile distant. It is only half a mile north 



50 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

of the railway station, however, and is excellently seen from tlie 
windows of the railway cars, or with less distinctness from a 
steamer's deck. It is a many-gabled, vine-clad cottage, covered with 
stucco and shadowed by grand trees. When Irving bought the 
place, in 1835, the locality was vaguely known as Dearman's, for 
it was not until 1854 that a sufficient settlement accumulated to 
be set off from Tarrytown and called Irving. This farm con- 
tained, at that time, ten acres, and there stood upon it a small 
stone house called " Wolfert's Roost " (^roost, rest), from a former 
owner, Wolfert Acker, who had been one of the Committee of 
Public Safety in '76, and had come here to set up his Rest and 
take his ease. Later, eight more acres were added to " Sunny- 
side," as the author styled his new property. The main facts in 
its history have been pleasantly told by Mr. Clarence Cook, in an 
article in The Century for May, 1887, reminiscent of his school- 
boy life in Tarrytown, when he enjoyed Irving's friendship. He 
tells us that Irving at once called in the services of a sympathetic 
artist, George Harvey, who, while he enlarged and modernized 
the house, kept all the "old-times" air and picturesqueness 
which had struck the author's fancy — the "little old-fashioned 
stone mansion, all made up of gable-ends, and as full of angles 
and corners as an old cocked hat," as the owner himself has 
described it. Over the entrance to the porch may still be read 
the inscription Georr/e Harvey, Boumr., the last word an abbrevia- 
tion for " Boumeister," which Mr. Irving had raked up as Dutch 
for architect. The beautiful growth of English ivy that clothes 
the front of the cottage has all grown from a slip brought from 
Melrose Abbey by a friend, Mrs. Renwick. This lady was a 
Miss Jeffrey, of Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and was 
the heroine of Burns' Blue-eyed Lassie, as well as of another of 
his songs: 

When first I saw my Jennie's face. 

Such is Mr. Cook's assertion, contradicting the popular statement 
that the ivy grew from slips given to Irving by Sir Walter Scott, 
at Abbotsford. 

The interior of Mr. Irving's house, according to Mr. Cook, 
hardly corresponded with the i)romise made by the outside. " As 
I remember," he says, "it w;is plainly, but ccmifortably, furnished; 
and, compared with almost any house lived in by a person of 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 51 

Irving's position, to-day, would certainly be said to have a bare 
look. . . . There was nothing in Irving's surroundings, or 
in his way of life, to suggest the literary man. His house might 
have been that of any gentleman bachelor, with a happy turn "for 
indolence, with no expensive tastes, but with an inborn relish for 
the simple pleasures of country life." 

The old liighway from Irvington to Tarrytown is especially 
beautiful and is bordered by noble properties, mainly between it 
and the water. As seen from the river, the residences about 
Tarrytown rise tier upon tier. That on the hill, with the pointed 
tower, is ' ' Cunningham Castle. " Near it are the still stately 
ruins of the burned home of tlie painter, Albert Bierstadt; and a 
long list of names of men prominent in the world of business 
would be found on the door-plates of the mansions ensconced 
among those umbrageous trees. Most conspicuous among them, 
as is appropriate, is the tall square marble tower of the late Jay 
Oould's house, " Lyndehurst," which rises like a bright monument 
above the green bank of foliage. It is interesting not only as the 
former residence of the most powerful, and, since the death of 
Commodore Vanderbilt, the most picturesque business man of 
the country, but from llie fact that it was originally "Paulding 
Manor," the country-house of William Paulding, a nephew of 
the hero of the Andre capture, and cousin of Admiral Paulding, 
U. S. N. He was a prominent merchant of the early decades 
of this country, and was Mayor of New York at the time of 
Lafayette's visit in 1824; and his house represents the best type 
of Tudor architecture. It is best seen from a northerly direction. 

The windows of all these mansions look out upon the Tap- 
pan Sea (or Zee), so named because the Tappan Indians were 
foimd along its western shore by the Dutchmen, Many a story 
might be told of its waters and circling shores, one of which 
Irving has left us in his Chronicle of Wolfert'a Roost, relating to 
the Revolutionary period, when every farmer had to be upon his 
guard against the bandits that infested this debatable land 
between the lines of the opposing armies. The story may not be 
veritable history, but it is a picture of those times, nevertheless: 

" While this marauding system prevailed on shore, the Great 
Tappan Sea, which washes this belligerent region, was domi- 
neered over by British frigates and other vessels of war, anchored 
here and there to keep an eye upon the river, and maintain a 
5 



52 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

communication between the various military posts. Stout gal- 
leys also, armed with eighteen-pounders, and navigated with 
sails and oars, cruised about like hawks, ready to pounce upon 

" Alftiiese were eyed with bitter hostility by the Dutch yeo- 
manry along shore, who were indignant at seeing their great 
Mediterranean plowed by hostile prows; and would occasion- 
ally thro\y up a mud breastwork on a point or promontory, 
mount an old iron field-piece, and fire away at the enemy, though 
the greatest harm was apt to happen to themselves from the 
bursting of their ordnance; nay, there was scarce a Dutchman 
along the river that would hesitate to fire with his long duck gun 
at any British cruiser that came within reach, as he had been 
accustomed to fire at water-fowl. 

' ' About this time, the Roost [i. e. , Sunuyside] experienced a 
vast accession of warlike importance in being made one of the 
stations of the water-guard. This was a kind of aquatic corps of 
observation, composed of long, sharp, canoe-shaped boats, tech- 
nically called \vhale.boals. that lay lightly on the water, and 
could be rowed with greut rapidity. They were manned by 
resolute fello%vs, skilled at pulling an oar or handling a musket. 
These lurked about in nooks and bays, and behind those long 
promontories which run out into the Tappan Sea, keeping a look- 
out, to give notice of the approach or movements of hostile ships. 
They roved about in pairs; sometimes at night, with muflfled 
oars, gliding like specters about frigates and guard-ships riding 
at anchor, cutting off any boats that made for shore, and keeping 
the enemy in constant uneasiness. These musquito-cruisers gen- 
erally kept aloof by day, so thnt their harboring places might not 
be discovered, but would pull quietly along, under shadow of the 
shore, at night, to take up their quarters at the Roost. Hither, 
at such time, would also repair the hard-riding lads of the hills, 
to hold secret councils of war with the " ocean chivalry"; and in 
these nocturnal meetings were concerted many of those daring 
forays, by land and water, that resounded throughout the 
border." 

With such a history, is it surprising to learn that Irving should 
hear such traditions as the following: 

" Before closing this historic document, I can not but advert 
to certain notions and traditions concerning the venerable pile in 
question. Old-time edifices are apt to gather odd fancies and 
superstitions about them, as they do moss and weather-stains; 
and this is in a neighborhood a little given to old fashioned 
notions, and who look upon the Roost as sT)mewhat of a fated 
mansion. A lonely, rambling, down-hill lane leads to it, over- 
hung with trees, ^vith a wild brook dashing along, and crossing 
and recTossing it. This lane I found some of the good people 
of the neighborhood shy of treading at night; why, I could not 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 53 

for a long time ascertain, until I learned that one or two of the 
rovers of the Tappan Sea, shot by the stout Jacob during the 
war, had been buried hereabout, in unconsecrated ground. 

" Another local superstition is of a less gloomy kind, and one 
which I confess I am somewhat disposed to cherish. The Tap- 
pan Sea, in front of the Roost, is about three miles wide, bor- 
dered by a lofty line of waving and rocky hills. Often, in the 
still twilight of a summer evening, when the sea is like glass, 
with the opposite hills throwing their purple shadows half across 
it, a low sound is lieard, as of the steady, vigorous pull of oars, 
far out in the middle of the stream, though not a boat is to be 
descried. This I should have been apt to ascribe to some boat 
rowed along under the shadows of the Avestern shore, for sounds 
are conveyed to a great distance by water, at such quiet hours; 
and I can distinctly hear the baying of the watch-dogs at night 
from the farms on the sides of tiie opposite mountains. The 
ancient traditionists of the neighborhood, however, religiously 
ascribed these sounds to a judgment upon one Rumbout Van 
Dam, of Spiting Devil, who danced and drank late one Saturday 
night, at a Dutch quilting frolic, at Kakiat, and set off alone for 
home in his boat, on the verge of Sunday morning, swearing he 
would not land till he reached Spiling Devil, if it took him a 
month of Sundays. He was never seen afterward, but is often 
heard plying his oars across the Tappan Sea, a Flying Dutchman 
on a small scale, suited to the size of his cruising-ground; being 
doomed to ply between Kakiat and Spiting Devil till the day of 
judgment, but never to reach the land." 

Tarrytown, whose port, railway station, and business streets 
are seen immediately above Irvington, which, indeed, it formerly 
included, is a beautiful and long-established village with consid- 
erable trade and manufacturing, as well as a large population of 
families whose business is in New York. The name is said to be 
from the Dutch Tericen Dorp, or Wheat Town, in reference to the 
leading product of the district; this the English half-translated into 
Terwen Town, and then corrupted into Tarrj'^town. It abounds in 
irregular, beautifully shaded avenues, lined by costly and elegant 
houses, crowding all citizens of small means into the low-lying 
streets along the water-front. The ornamental arrangement of 
the grounds about the new station here will attract attention, as 
well as the great fountain, given as a present to the public by 
the Rev. and Mrs. E. C. Bull. 

SLEEPY HOLLOW, PAST AND PRESENT. 

Those who delight to seek out places of historical and poetic 
association will not fail to stroll about Tarrytown, and will wan- 



54 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

i 

iler out to Sleepy Hollow in search of the scene of the romance * 
of Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel, and of that frightful 
apparition, The Headless Horseman; and will not fail to visit the { 
gmre of Wa.sJiinr/ton Ining. 

Sleepy Hollow is the narrow valley of Pocantico Creek, which 
flows into the Hudson half a mile north of the railway station, 
where the jutting out of Kingsland's Point— marked by a light- 
house—forms a small bay. The name is regarded as a half-con- 
temptuous translation of the Dutch words slaperig ha'oen; and 
Irving himself tells us why. 

"Xot far from Tarry town," he writes, "there is a little valley, 
or rather a lap of land, among high hills, which is one of the 
quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides through 
it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose, and the occa- 
sional whistle of a quail, or tapping of a woodpecker, is almost 
the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tran- 
quillity." 

"Sleepy Hollow," in the phrase of Clarence Cook, whose 
article was referred to a few paragraphs back, "is still very 
much the same lazy country road it was in the old days when we 
school-boys wandered along it in the summer afternoons, picking 
blackberries from the wayside vines." Following the turnpike 
road [Broadway] down the hill we come to Beekman's mill-pond, 
and crossing the pretty stream, the Pocantico, on the bridge over 
which Ichabod galloped, pursued in his mad flight by the head- 
less horseman, we reach the old Dutch church, surrounded by the 
graves of many generations — those of the earlier settlers cluster- 
ing thickly about the church itself, while the newer graves people 
the rising ground toward the north. 

" It is in this newer portion of the cemetery that Washington 
Irving lies. His grave is in the middle of a large plot purchased 
by him in 1853, six years before his death. The stone that marks 
his grave is a plain slab of white marble, on which are engraved 
his name and date alone, without any memorial inscription. The 
l)ath that leads to the entrance gate of the plot is so worn by the 
feet of visitors that a stranger hardly needs to ask his way to the 
church. 

"It would not have been easy to find a place more in harmony 
with the associations that gather about Irving's name as a writer, 
than the spot in which he is buried. Even to-day, with all the 
changes that have been brought about by the growth of the 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 55 

neighboring settlement, the spirit of peace and quiet that used to 
brood over the region hovers there undisturbed. Irving's own 
words in tlie Legend of Sleepy Hollow^ describing the grave-yard, 
the old cluirch, and the stream that plays about its feet, reflect 
with the faithfulness of a mirror the scene as we behold it 
to-day. 

'■ Here is the church, a small building with rough sides of the 
country stone, surmounted by a picturesque roof, and with an 
open bell turret, over which still veers the vane pierced with the 
initials of the Frederick Felypsen * who built the church and 
cndoAcd it in 109!). In our rambles about the grave-yard we used 
to tin'] the bricks of light-colored clay, brought from Holland, and 
of which, so tradition said, the church had originally been built, 
or which had, at any rate, been largely used in its construction." 

Above Irving's grave, and those of his many relatives, the land 
swells into a knoll surmounted by the memorials of the Dela'oan 
family. These consist of a tall shaft of granite, observable from 
far out on the river, and supporting a grand figure; and of six 
marble statues, one represenling Jesus, and the others symbolical 
figures of Immortality, Faith, etc., disposed about the pedestal 
of the column among the graves. This eminence, called Battle 
Hill, overlooks the highway, the Pocantico Vale, and the sweetest 
part of the Tarrytown slope. In 1779 it was crowned by a forti- 
fication of the Patriot army, but received no assault. Remains 
of the earthworks may yet be traced; and their site is still further 
marked by a small cannon, mounted upon a granite carriage, and 
having near it a pyramid of projectiles. This gim bears an 
inscription informing readers that it is the rifled steel cannon 
which caused Napoleon III. to make its inventor a member of the 
Legion of Honor; but why this red-painted modern weapon and 
its vulgar personal advertisement should be accepted as an histor- 
ical monument anywhere, and, above all, in this City of Peace, is 
a curiosity of inconsistency remaining unexplained. 

The present bridge is, of course, a very modern affair, replac- 
ing that one which Irving knew, and which itself had no memo- 
ries of the old colonial times of which the great romancer w^rote. 
But the tranquil and weedy pond below it is the same as that of 
the days when the burghers brought their grist a horseback to be 
grouud at Wheat Town; and the identical old mill is still stand- 

* Frederick Philipse the first, whose first manor-house, or "castle," still 
stands a little way down the stream by the old mill. 



56 NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 

ing under the trees at the foot of the pond, by its moss-grown 
dam. Near it is the old Philipse manor-house, or Castle Phil- 
il)se, whence the family moved to Yonkers when their newer 
manor-house was built there. It is stanch as ever, but is 
sadly belittled by the sumptuous homes of modern days, and can 
scarcely be seen for the foliage. This house, the mill, and the 
dam are all well seen from the railway while the train is crossing 
the mouth of the Pocantico, north of the station. 

The shortest road to Sleepy Hollow from Ihe station is along the 
street that leads up the railway track, and gradually bends to the 
right. It is a walk of twenty to thirty minutes, thiough an 
unpleasant part of town. Much more interesting is the longer 
way up the hill to Broadway, then northward to where, at a brick 
church, a wide road descends toward the left; this must be fol- 
lowed around the cove to the bridge and pond, beside which are 
the old church and the cemetery. Two hours will amply suffice to 
walk around this way and back to the station, and to see all that 
the casual tourist will feel an interest in; but the distance is too 
great for feeble pedestrians. Carriages are always waiting at 
Tarrytown station, however. 

The Monument to Andre's Capture. — About half-way to 
Sleepy Hollow, on Broadway, stands a monument commemorat- 
ing one of the most interesting episodes of the War for Inde- 
pendence — the capture of AndrC', the story of which is told in 
the next section. It was originally a simple, small obelisk, 
erected in 1853 by the people of Westchester County, upon a 
pedestal bearing the following inscription, with some additional 
sentiments of appreciation : 

On tuis Spot, 

The 25th Day of September, 1780, the Spy, 

MAJOR JOHN ANDRI:, 

Adjutant General of the British Army, Was Captured by 

John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart, 

All Natives of this County. 

To this was added, upon the centennial anniversary of the inci- 
dent, in 1880, a bronze statue of a minute-man, specifically repre- 
senting John Paulding, which is poised effectively upon the top 



NEW YORK TO TARRYTOWN. 57 

of the obelisk, and a bronze panel, by Theodore Bauer, depicting 
the capture of Andre in a very spirited way. These were the gift 
of a citizen, John Anderson; and it is unfortunate that this fine 
little monument does not stand where it can be seen to better 
advantage. The little stream below it is now called Andre's 
Brook; and near the monument there formerly stood a great 
whitewood, long known as the Andr6 tree. 

Other stirring adventures occurred at Tarrytown in those days. 
Lying between the two armies, it was alternately occupied and 
abandoned by each, and always exposed to the marauders that 
infested the whole region. Here were landed, in 1777, Vaughan's 
troops to co-operate in the attack on Fort Montgomery; and at 
another time, a vigorous cannonade was poured from its intrench- 
ments upon an English flotilla. One of the liveliest local stories 
is that of the successful surprise, by a body of American militia, 
of a large corps of British refugees, gathered at the tavern of 
Elizabeth Van Tassel. The enemy were amusing their evening 
hours with cards, when Major Hunt and his volunteers rushed 
into the apartment, the Major exclaiming, as he brandished over 
the table the huge stick with which he was armed: 

" Gentlemen, clubs are trumps!" 

The luckless card-players were avenged by other and counter 
incidents in the strife, as in the capture, by Colonel Emmerick, of 
the Continental Guard, which was quartered in Requa's house, 
when four of the patriots were killed and the remaining dozen 
were taken prisoners; and again, in the spring of 1782, when a 
party of refugees, commanded by Lieutenant Akerly, captured 
three American militia-men, named Yerks, Van Wart, and Strong, 
the last of whom was hanged on the spot. 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

The Eastern shore of Tappaa Sea, north of Tarrytown, is 
studded with the couutry-seats of prominent persons. At the 
mouth of the Pocautico, occupying lunrjslamVs Point (behind the 
light-house) and the neighboring river lands, are the long-occupied 
houses of the Kingsland family, one of whom w^as a noted mayor 
of New York. Higher up the hill, not far from Sleepy Hollow, 
lies the old estate of Gen. James Watson Webb, one of whose 
sons is now conspicuous as the acting third vice-president of the 
New York Central Railroad. One of his neighbors is Mrs. 
Anson G. Phelps, and another is William Rockefeller, president 
of the Standard Oil Company, who occupies the ancient chateau 
" Rockwood," in which the Aspinwalls and other noted families 
have dwelt in past years. A little farther north, near Scarbor- 
ough station and landing, the Scarboroughs, Rcmsens, etc., 
reside in the summer. 

The Western shore of the Tappan Sea is nearer to those 
who travel upon steamers, and must not be overlooked in our 
description. The Palisades, which the Mohicans said were 
erected by the Great Spirit to protect his favorite abodes from 
unhallowed eyes of mortals — is this a bit of sun-myth, referring to 
the declining king-of-day? — have given place to a graceful blend- 
ing of valley and hill, stretching northward to a bold promontory 
which, in some states of the weather, becomes sublime in its 
aspect. The scenery of the Tappau Sea and its boldly sculptured 
shores varies widely, with the state of the atmosphere, from the 
most tame and prosaic condition to an appearance of bold 
grandeur or idyllic beauty. "The voyager," remarks the land- 
scape artist Richards, "might very reasonably think himself in 
fairy-land, should he chance here on a quiet, sunny summer day, 
when the clear still waters reflect the whiteness of a hundred lazy 
sails, and the sunshine of the all-encircling hillsides; or he might 
forget that he is upon the bosom of a decorous and peaceful 

(58) 



i 



5 \. 



^ 






TARRYTOWN TO "WEST POINT. 59 

river, should storm and tempest darken the mountains and 
valleys, and rudely awaken the dreaming floods." 

Nyack, just beyond the Piermont jetty, is the only town of 
importance on the western side of Tappan Sea. It is a pretty 
and prosperous village at the terminus of the Northern Railroad 
of New Jersey. Of late years, it has become one of the favorite 
suburban summer residences, and for some reason has especially 
attracted many of the South Americans of wealth or promi- 
nence who live in New York and Washington. 

The village includes, besides Nyack proper, South Nyack, West 
Nyack, and Upper Nyack. In winter it has some 5,000 inhabit- 
ants, and settles down into a steady-going manufacturing town, 
in which nearly everybody is concerned, directly or indirectly, 

j with making shoes, or else with building yachts and boats. In 
summer, however, Nyack is increased by three or four thousand 
summer residents, who fill the hotels and boarding-houses, and 

i find plentiful amusement in rambling and boating over her hills 
and along her shore. The large building seen in the southern 
part of the town, near the water, is the " Tappan Zee Hotel," while 

I the still larger "Prospect House" is visible higher up the hill. 

' Both of these are summer houses. A ferry connects Nyack with 
Tarrytown, the steamboat Rockland making hourly trips; and 
this way runs the tally-ho coach between New York and Tuxedo, 

] twenty-two miles west, stopping for lunch at the capital St. 
George Restaurant, near the landing. 

I The Northern Railroad of New Jersey makes its northern 
terminus at Nyack, a few blocks from the landing, and aifords 
almost hourly communication with the city. This road is leased 
to the New York, Lake Erie & Western, and is a model of a 
suburban line. 

Its trains leave from the "Erie" station, in Jersey City (33d 
and Chambers streets. New York, by ferry), and run up along the 
western base of Bergen Ridge, until this breaks, and allows the 
road to reach the river-side again at Nyack. It is a charming 
country — that behind the Palisades. The broad meadows of the 
Hnckcnsack are first seen, then the narrower valley of its eastern 
tributary, the Overpeck ; and quaint old villages are strung along, 
with an almost continual line of modern cottages aud summer 
homes. This is a favorite field for New York artists, some of 
the foremost of whom dwell at Ridgetield Park, Leonia, and 



60 TARUYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

Englewood. It abounds in quaint relics of colonial times, as at 
Ridgefiekl, Tenafly, Closter, Tappan; and was tlie scene, in the 
earlier years of the Revolution, of some of the most stirring inci- 
dents of that war. Altogether, the ride by rail from Jersey City to 
Nyack is scarcely less interesting than that by river. 

Nyack is also touched, at West Nyack, 2i miles from the river, 
by the West Shore Railroad, and it has a daily line of steamboats 
to and from New York. 

This part of the Hudson, above Nyack, the pilots term Tappan 
Reach, and it is overshadowed by the extension of the Palisades, 
locally called Hook Mountain, but more anciently known as Mount 
Verdrietig Range. This range is elevated in the middle into the 
rounded dome of Ball Mountain, and ends northward in the bold 
promontory which has already excited our admiration. The 
southern prominence of this headland is Verdrietig Hook; the 
farther one, where the shore makes a slight bend westward, is 
Diedrich Hook, or Point-no-Point. These hills are about 700 
feet high, rough and uninhabited, but pleasing in outline and 
color; their extraordinary name, which is spelled in every possible 
way except the right, is a Dutch adjective meaning difficult, 
tedious, wearisome. The reference was probably at first to the 
point, or hook (Verdrietig Hoek), where bafiiing winds often 
make trouble for the sailorman, and render his passage of the 
cape " tedious," and afterward the name was extended to the 
whole range inland. 

Sing Sing, perched upon the hills of the eastern shore, is just 
in advance on the right, as the steamer comes opposite Point-no- 
Point, with the famous State Prison in plain view by the edge of 
the water. 

This odd designation has been accounted for by various face- 
tious expedients. Irving says, truly, that it is a corruption of a 
Mohican place-word, 0-sin-sing, referring to the rocky nature of 
the site ; and then adds in his droll humor : 

" Some have rendered it, 0-sin-song, or 0-sing-song, in token 
of its being a great market town, where anything may be had for 
a mere song. Its present melodious alteration to Sing Sing is 
said to have been in compliment to a Yankee singing-master, who 
taught the inhabitants the art of singing through the nose." 

Others say the name is a variation of that of a Chinese ruler, 
Tsing Sing, and was brought over by a Dutch sailor who had 
traded with the Celestial Empire. It comes, however, from the 
red man's tongue, and means a stony place; and well is the neigh- 



TAllRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 61 

borliood named, for a more rugged spot of hill and ravine, and 
a wilder upheaving of rock and bowlder, one could hardly ask 
for within the streets of an orderly Christian town. 

The milage of Sing Sing must be kept quite distinct from the 
prison. It is by no means a sort of penal colony, as the public is 
too apt to regard it, but " an ancient, prosperous, and picturesque 
suburb of New York," where some 10,000 excellent people dwell 
amid surroundings that for health and beauty can hardly be 
matched in the whole valley. The town lies upon rocky hills 
and overlooks the most varied, and perhaps the most beautiful, 
river landscape along the valley. Just north of the town, as the 
traveler upon the steamer has before now observed ahead of him, 
the river is invaded by a long projection from the eastern shore, 
which has quite cut off his view. This is Croton Point, and the 
water between it and the Sing Sing shore is Croton Bay, or the 
estuary of Croton River, which the Indians called Kitchawonk. 

As one stands upon any of the village streets facing the 
river, his glance not only takes in a long southward sweep of the 
opposite shore with its irregular highlands, but embraces, in 
most pleasing perspective, the several summits north of Verdrie- 
tig Hook, which have the sharpness and pose of real mountains, 
though only live or six hundred feet in height. But the eye, mov- 
ing on northward, kindles with increasing pleasure as it ranges 
across the foreground of sail-dotted bay, and beyond the green 
and diversified interception of Croton Point, to the expanse of 
Haverstraw Bay northward, where the farther shore rises, far 
inland, into the blue and irregular mountains of Orange County, 
over at the head of the Ramapo. Oue is constantly surprised by 
glimpses, through the trees and across gardens that fill the fore- 
ground with life and color, throwing into artistic remoteness the 
shining river and cool blue hills, of bits of this scenery which are 
picturesque in the truest sense of the word; and that is a term 
which can not be applied discriminatingly to much of the Hud- 
son River scenery, even where it is both interesting and full of 
charm. This rare outlook, the salubrity, the shady and well- 
kept streets, the excellent water and drainage, and the many 
educational advantages, have drawn to Sing Sing a large number 
of wealthy people whose business interests are in New York; and 
one may see there many costly and beautiful homes, and many 



03 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

fine churches and school buildings. Besides the public schools, 
this town possesses no less than four military boarding-schools 
for boys and a seminary for girls, besides two business colleges. 
In addition to its churches, the Sing Sing Camp Meeting, on the 
heights a mile north of town, is largely attended in summer by 
the religious people of the whole region. 

In the early part of Ihe last century, capital was largely 
invested here in silver and copper mines, and some of the older 
families still have in their possession silver spoons and copper 
utensils which were fashioned from the products of those mines. 
The copper mines, a little south of the prison, can still be explored 
by the curious, but the opening to the silver mines, which were 
on the north bounds of the prison, is now covered by the track 
of the Hudson River Railroad. Judging from the various and 
long corridors extending hundreds of feet under the waters of the 
Hudson, immense sums must have been expended in the develop- 
ment of these mines. Garnets of some size were frequently found 
in the same locality, and farther north there were traces of gold. 

The capital invested in these old mines was truly sunk in the 
ground; but that which has been put into the many factories at 
Sing Sing has given a good return. The Arcade File Works here 
is the oldest in the country, and now employs 150 men; while the 
factory of the much-advertised Brandreth's Pills has extensive 
works adjoining the doctor's park-like home grounds along the 
railway. A shoe factory employing 225 hands, two foundries 
for plumbers' castings, a manufactory of cotton-gin machinery, 
and another of cotton-gin saws, are noticeable among the rest. 
These industries nourish the town industrially and keep it brisk. 
It has two strong banks, an excellent water and fire-department 
service, electric and gas lights, and an assessed valuation of 
nearly $4,000,000. Sing Sing has thirty trains daily to and 
from New York; the steamer Sarah A. Jenks plies daily, going 
down in the morning and back at night; and a small steamboat 
makes four round trips a day between Sing Sing and Haverstraw; 
and the village has electric street-cars. 

The State Prison is about one mile south of the station, next 
the water. Little of it can be seen from a passing steamer, and 
still less from the railway, which passes underneath it through 
deep cuttings. The remarkable whiteness of the buildings is due 
to the fact that they are constructed of dolomite, a coarse marble 
quarried on the spot, and extensively used as building-stone in 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 63 

this and other river towns. This prison was founded in 1826, 
when Capt. Elam Lynds took a party of 100 convicts from 
Auburn Prison to this spot, and set them at worli to wall them- 
selves in. By 1829 this had been accomplished, and the main 
building was ready. It is now nearly 500 feet long, and has 1,200 
cells, besides many shops, in which shoes, saddlery, furniture, 
and various other articles are manufactured by convict labor. 
The confinement of women in this prison was discontinued many 
years ago. About 1,700 persons now find here the quiet, if not 
the peace, which complete seclusion from society affords. 

Rockland is the name of the little village, immediately oppo- 
site Sing Sing, opened to view as the steamer rounds Point-no- 
Point. It is set in a narrow, shady ravine north of Hook Mount- 
ain, and is the port of Rockland Lake^ a large sheet of water lying 
a mile or more inland, and about 150 feet above the landing. On 
this lake is cut a large portion of the ice used by New York City, 
and 1,000 men are employed ia harvesting and shipping the 
product, which is brought down the ravine by a cable railway, 
and sent to the city in huge barges. Rockland Lake is also a 
place of summer resort, and has upon its borders, besides the 
"Rockland Lake Hotel," an extensive grove, which is a favorite 
place for farmers* picnics. 

The ice business of New York may be said to have originated 
at Rockland Lake, where lived the men who were the founders, 
many years ago, of the Knickerbocker Ice Compan}^. At first, 
supposing that ice could not be preserved otlierwise, they dug 
a hole in the ground holding about 125 tons. The ice was 
taken from this pit, placed in a box holding one ton, mounted 
upon a truck whose wheels were merely sections of round logs, 
and hauled aboard a boat which then ran down to New York 
from Haverstraw one day and returned the next. The delivery 
in New York was made in springless one-horse carts. How rap- 
idly and far the business has outgrown these rude beginnings we 
shall see later. 

The long, low promontory reaching out from the eastern shore 
here, and separating Croton Bay from the broad expanse of Hav- 
erstraw Bay above, is called Croton Point; but the extremity of 
it, cut off by a cross stream, is distinguished as Teller's Point. 

At the head of Croton Bay, where the Post Road crosses it, 
stands the venerable Van Cortlandt manor-house, built by that 
fine old patroon in 1683, long before his descendants built the two 



64 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

mansions on the Mosholu, in New York ; and it remains one of 
tlie best examples extant of early colonial architecture. The Van 
Cortlandts and Phillipses intermarried at an early date, and became 
virtual masters of all this land on the west bank of the river, from 
here to the Harlem. It was off Croton (Teller's) Point that the 
British war-ship Vulture, in which Andre came to his fatal confer- 
ence with Arnold, anchored to await his return, and received Ar- 
nold instead, after having been driven from the neighborhood of 
Verplank's Point, to Andr(*'s ultimate discomfiture. 

Beyond these narrows, the shore recedes eastward, and the 
steamer enters the broad expanse of Haverstraw Bay, or Haver- 
stroo (oat-straw), as the Dutch wrote it. The eastern shore is a 
mass of hills, increasing northward to where the Highlands form 
a rugged wall across the whole northern horizon. Westward, the 
hills strike inland in the lofty and abrupt Verdrietig ridges, on 
whose farther (southern) slopes the trout brooks combine in Pond's 
Patent to form the Hackensack; and in the wide tract of com- 
parative lowlands between this range and the Highlands lies the 
village of Haverstraw, with the historic headland Stony Point 
jutting out beyond it. 

The Hudson is here five miles wide — the broadest part of its 
course — and, as the channel keeps well over in the line of the sweep 
of the current along the western bank, details on the eastern shore 
are not well seen from a steamboat deck. The railway ride along 
that shore from Sing Sing to Peekskill is, however, a very pleas- 
ant experience,' passing the stations Croton, Cruger's (near where 
Baron Steuben so diligently drilled the recruits in '76), and Mont- 
rose, whence is obtained the best southern view of the Highlands 
of the Hudson. The view from Croton is one of the most attract- 
ive landscapes of the whole river. The eye glances backward 
across the long and graceful outlines of Croton Point to the west- 
ern mountains, which surprise us by their bold and towering pro- 
files, one behind the other, and blue with distance. Across the 
shimmering, sail-dotted expanse of the bay are tiers of green hills 
sweeping from High Tor around almost to the Dunderberg, and 
blue wisps of smoke prettily indicate the prosaic brick-yards of 
Haverstraw. This Croton shore is a place famous not only for 
rod and line angling, but also for its shad fisheries. 

The glimpse from a passing steamer or railway train is all that 
the casual traveler will care to see of Haverstraw, which is a vil- 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 65 

lage that has grown up behind some two miles of brick-yards, 
where hundreds of men are mining and molding and baking the 
fine clay sediment that settled in the eddies of that nook in the 
by-gone time when the stream was wider and deeper than now. 
They even build coffer-dams out into the river to rescue from its 
bed the valuable brick-clay, and far more than half of all the 
brick made along the whole course of the river comes from these 
yards, which reach to Grassy Point, the steamboat landing. 

The tall peak of the Verdrietig Range, which overshadows the 
town, is High Tor — a good old Devonshire word, almost hidden 
vmder the local corruption "Torn." This peak is 810 feet in 
altitude. In the distance is seen Little Tor. 

Through the depression at the hither base of High Tor, which, 
by the way, is ascendible by two or three rough roads, making it 
a pretty hard climb, comes the old turnpike from the south; and 
the sudden mew of Haverstraw Bay, which bursts upon the sight 
as you top the hill, is one of the noblest pictures in the world. 
Underneath this gap is the long tunnel of the West Shore Rail- 
road, which emerges upon the high ground overlooking Haver- 
straw, and keeps along the ridge around the meadows in which the 
Minnissickuongo loiters before falling into Stony Point Bay. On 
the western side of the creek is the s'ation West Haverstraw, 
behind which may be seen the eminence of Treason Hill, where, 
in the stone house of Dr. Joshua Hett Smith, Arnold and Andre 
perfected their nefarious bargain. The house still stands promi- 
nently on the hillside, above the railway track, about a mile north 
of the Haverstraw Station. 

THE STORY OF ARNOLD'S TREASON. 

The story of Arnold's treason and Andre's fate is briefly 
this: Benedict Arnold was a member of a good family, who dis- 
tinguished himself early in the war for skill and gallantry, and 
quickly rose to be a major-general. His financial management, 
while in command at Philadelphia, led to his being arrested, 
court-martialed, and sentenced by Congress to be reprimanded by 
the commander-in-chief. This sentence "Washington carried out 
as considerately as he could. Arnold, nevertheless, was deeply 
embittered, but dissembled his anger; and, having been conspic- 
uous for valor at Ridgefield and Bemis Heights, where he received 
6 



66 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

grievous wounds, readily obtained, at his own request, when rein- 
stated in the early autumn of 1780, the command of the "West 
Point district, the key to the Hudson. He had previously, how- ^ 
ever, been in negotiation with Sir Henry Clinton, the British f 
commander at New York, for a desertion to the Crown; and 
the plan had now so expanded as to include the surrender of 
this most important group of posts with their garrisons. The 
time was ripe, as Washington was about to lead a large part 
of the army out of the way into New England. Whether 
Arnold initiated this base plot, or whether, while smarting under 
what he esteemed great wrongs, he had listened to the temptings 
of the enemy in the person of the noted Tory and officer, Beverly 
Robinson, is a matter of dispute, but the latter seems more likely. 
At any rate he was given command of the Highland forts, and 
took up his residence at "Beverly," the abandoned homestead of 
Robinson, nearly opposite West Point, where his family joined 
him. (See page 86.) 

Here he began at once to intrigue with Clinton through Rob- 
inson, using a Haverstraw Tory, Joshua Hett Smith, as mes- 
senger. Finally Clinton sent his sloop of war Vulture up the 
river, bearing as his emissary his adjutant-general, Maj. John 
Andr6, accompanied by Beverly Robinson as adviser. Arnold 
was awaiting its coming. Andre was put ashore in what is now 
the southern part of Haverstraw village, and there, on the 21st 
of September, under the shadow of High Tor, the two officers 
met in a secret discussion of the treachery and its payment. 
They consulted until daybreak, when Arnold persuaded Andr6 
to go with him to the house of Dr. Smith (who had previously 
assisted them), where breakfast was prepared. While at break- 
fast, cannon were heard booming, and it was learned that Living- 
ston had opened upon the Vulture from a battery on Verplank's 
Point, compelling the ship to drop down to a safer anchorage off 
Teller's Point. After breakfast Andr6 received the plans of the 
West Point works and armament, numbers of troops, etc., which 
he wanted, and Arnold rode home. 

Andr(3 passed the day expecting to go aboard the Vulture that 
night, but Smith refused the risk of taking him there, and noth- 
ing remained but to attempt a journey overland, with Smith as 
guide. Arnold had furnished them with suitable passes, under 
an assumed name, but as Andr6 wore the conspicuous uniform 
of his rank, he borrowed a long overcoat with which to conceal 
it. They started about sunset, aud crossed the King's Ferry 
between Stony and Verplank points to the east side of the river, 
but could not get beyond the American lines that night. Early 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 67 

next morning Ihe two proceeded, safely passed the American 
pickets, and then, almost within sight of the British lines, Smith 
turned back and Andre went on alone. 

It happened, however, that an irregular outpost of the three 
militia-men, Paulding, Williams, and Van Wart, was watching the 
road here near Tarrytown, They stopped Andre, who, mistaking 
them for a Tory outpost, instead of showing the pass which 
would have caused Paulding, their spokesman, to let him go on, 
avowed himself a British officer who must not be detained. The 
exhibition of the pass after that imprudence did not satisfy the 
young patriots. They compelled him to dismount, searched him. 
and found in his stockings the terrible documents. He offered 
his captors immense bribes to release him, but they refused, and 
took him to the nearest American commander, Colonel Jamieson. 
This officer kept the prisoner, but indiscreetly allowed Andr6 to 
w-rite, under his assumed name, to Arnold. Meanwhile, Wash- 
ington had not gone to Connecticut as soon as he anticipated, but 
this very morning was starting and proposed to take breakfast 
with Arnold and afterward to inspect the new fortifications at 
West Point — the very day their garrisons were to be scattered so 
as to appear unable to resist the pretended attack, and the sur- 
render was to be consummated. All were sitting at a late breakfast 
when the messenger de ivered Andre's note to Arnold. Excusing 
himself, he hastened to his barge by an obscure lane, now called 
Arnold's Path, and lowed down to the Vulture, which hastened 
away with him to New York, leaving Andr6 to his fate. 

An hour or two passed before the evidences of the treachery 
were presented to Washington. He immediately prepared for 
an attack, but none was offered, and then organized a court- 
martial, which, in spite of Andre's immediate and frank avowal 
ol" all the circumstances by which, as the prisoner himself wrote, 
"was I betrayed into the vile condition of an enemy in disguise 
within your posts," and of a vigorous defense and many protci^ts, 
sentenced him to death as a spy; and, furthermore, to be hung, 
as Nathan Hale had been, years before, in New York. He was 
thus executed, in full uniform, upon a hilltop near Wayne's 
headquarters at Tappan, and buried on the spot.* The unhappy 
fate of this courageous and talented man excited universal sym- 
pathy, but the cooler judgment of that time, and history since, 
have justified his execution. A monument was erected to his 
memory in Westminster Abbey when, in 1821, his body was 
taken there for reburial; and in 1878 a memorial was built upon 
the place of his execution by the late Cyrus W. Field, at the 
request of Dean Stanley, but the latter was destro3^ed by bucolic 
fanaticism. The three militia-men were rewarded by congress- 

* The coincidence of the poem of the Coio Chase has already been men- 
tioned (p. 35); another curious coincidence is that the great whitewood tree 
in Tarrytown which overspread tbe spot where Andre was caught, and which 
is described by Irving in the Sketch Book, was destroyed by lightning on the 
very day that the news of Arnold's death reached that town 1 



68 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

ional medals and pensions, and now each has his monument at 
Tanytown or Peekskill. Arnold received from the English gov- 
ernment a part of his promised reward (about $30,000) and a 
colonel's commission. He was sent to wage war in the Carolinas, i 
and was distinguished by his ferocity against the country people | 
whose farms and villages he ravaged; but, as few English officers 
would associate with him, he was sent to England, where he lived 
out his life in disgrace and loneliness. But had he succeeded, in 
what a different estimation might he have been held, and how 
divergent might have been the course of history! 

Sailing past the low meadows and brick-yards of Grassy 
Point, with a glance at Montrose Point and Oscawanna Island, a 
picnic resort near the opposite shore, attention is concentrated 
upon the rocky headland jutting out from the western shore a 
mile or two in advance, where a light-house crowns an eminence 
of tragic fame. That is Stony Point, the scene of one of the 
most brilliant exploits in American annals; and the projecting 
shore opposite it, which forms the northern boutidary of 
Haverstraw Bay, is Verplank's Point. 

Here, in colonial days, the greatest public ferry on the Hud- 
son, and for that reason called the King's Ferry, plied between 
Stony and Verplank's points as a part of the principally traveled 
road between New England and the South — for there was no 
"West" in those days. This ferry was extremely useful in the 
military movements of the Continental army, and the possession 
of these two points became vitally important in 1779, when the 
second series of hostile operations began against the Highlands. 
Hence the history of Stony and Verplank's points is closely 
connected, and may appropriately be told here. 

THE BATTLE OF STONY POINT. 

Stony Point was naturally so-called, "stony" in those days 
meaning rocky, rather than as we now use the word; Verplank's 
Point had been so termed since it had been bought by Philip 
Verplank from Stephen Van Cortlandt, the local Patroon, whose 
only granddaughter and heiress Verplank had married. The 
river here became narrow, and fortiiications would command the 
ascent of the channel by any ships then owned by either party. 
Therefore the re fortification of the Highlands, after the with- 
drawal of the British in 1777, included these two headlands in its 



TAKRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 69 

scheme. The season of 1778 was passed in operations elsewhere, 
but with the advent of the summer of 1779 circumstances 
began to draw both armies hither, and the Americans at once 
proceeded to erect defenses upon each headland. Aware of this, 
Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander at New York, as soon 
as his Southern expedition returned, led his fleet and a large body 
of troops northward to put a stop to these preparations. The 
bulk of his force, under Vaughan, was landed on the eastern 
shore and ordered to march to the rear of Verplank's Point, where 
a small but complete and scienti6c battery and block-house (Fort 
Lafayetti) had already proved useful in defending the ferry from 
piratical boats. A lesser detachment, with Sir Henry command- 
ing in person, landed at Haverstraw and marched against the 
block-house which already protected the party of workmen build- 
ing redoubts upon its summit. Warned of the intended attack, 
the Americans set fire to the block -house and fled to the hills. Sir 
Henry took possession, and during the night artillery was landed, 
and with vast exertion was dragged up and mounted in the 
empty embrasures; and at daylight a cannonade was opened 
up m Verplank's Point. The little garrison of Lafayette replied 
with spirit, but were outmatched, cut off from escape, and forced 
to surrender. Nobody was killed on either side. 

This happened in early June, 1779. The British immediately 
set themselves to flnish and arm the series of redoubts upon Stony 
Point, until they had constructed "a little Gibraltar," which they 
boasted was quite impregnable. The onlj^ land approach to it 
was by the causeway road to the ferry across a marsh, which was 
defended by an abatis and picket stations. The rock gradually 
increases in height as it recedes from the mainland, nearly to the 
extreme point of the peninsula, whence, from a height of not less 
than 50 feet, it suddenly descends, on its northern, eastern, and 
southern faces, to the river, Verplank's Point also had been 
greatly strengthened, no less than seven carefully constructed 
and well armed redoubts having been built there, holding a heavy 
garrison. 

At this time, warned by these operations that the English 
were in earnest in their efforts against the passes of the Hudson, 
Washington had concentrated his army at and above West Point, 
with headquarters at New Windsor, succeeding with the greatest 



70 TABRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

diflSculty in forestalling the enemy, largely on account of the 
apathy with which CoDgress and the people together regarded the 
army at that time. Partly to inspire a greater public interest by 
some showy movement, Washington now organized a body of 
picked men, styled the Corps of Light Infantry, and called to 
their command Gen. Anthony Wayne, then at his home in Penn- 
sylvania, knowing that his dashing character was precisely fitted 
to the work intended for this quick-moving, hard-hitting body of 
men. The corps and its impetuous commander, " JMad Anthony," 
as he was nick-named, were stationed at Fort ]\Ioutgomery, and 
ordered to retake Stony Point if it could be done. The full 
account of the reconnoitering, in which Washington himself 
took part; of the slow, secret, and exceedingly careful prepara- 
tion, and finally of the assault, forms one of the most romantic 
tales in American history; and it is no wonder that many a myth- 
ical incident has become entangled into it, even in the writings of 
Irving, Lossing, and Sparks. These excrescences have been 
cleared away by the monograph of Dawson, which has been 
followed in the ensuing sketch. 

In the afternoon of July IStli the attacking force gathered as 
near to Stony Point as was prudent, preserving the utmost secrecy 
as to their movements. So exces^ively bad w^ere the narrow 
mountain roads that it was 8p m. before the little army of about 
1,000 men reached Springsteel's farm, where it was f rmed into 
two solid columns, leaving the cavalry of " Liiiht-Horse Harry" 
Lee and a body of infantry as supports. Each column was led 
by a compan}^ of picked men, in front of which was a "forlorn 
hope" of twenty volunteers with axes. When all was ready, 
orders w^ere given, and for the first time the men understood 
what was expected of them. Each soldier and officer placed in 
his hat a piece of wdiite paper to distinguish him from the enemy in 
the melee that was to ensue; and it was ordered that no gun 
should be tired, but that the assault should be made wholly with 
the bayonet, and in silence: and the ofiicers were ordered to put 
to death, instantly, the first man who should attempt to load his 
musket or break from the ranks. The w^atchword given was 
" The fort's our own," and each man w^as instructed to give it 
"with a Repeated and Loud voice," "when the Works are 
forced — and not before." 

As midnight drew near, the two columns advanced side by 
side in perfect stillness. As they approached the marsh, behind 
the rocky fortress, the right column, with General Wayne at its 
head, turned toward the right and crossed the marsh, still flooded 
with some two feet of tide, in order to gain the beach on the 



TARRYtOWlSr TO WEST POINT. 7l 

south side of the Point, while the other, under Butler and Mur- 
free, crossed the relics of the bridge to an attack of the north- 
ern and western front. These movements were quickly discovered 
by the pickets, and the garrison was aroused and fully ready for 
defense on all sides by the time Wayne had waded through the 
marsh and Butler had swerved around to the northern slope; 
and, notwithstanding the noisy firing which was immediately 
begun by Murfree's North Carolinians in front as a feint, the 
assailants on both sides were received with a storm of bullets and 
grape-shot. 

"By moving along the beach, Wayne's column easily turned 
the abatis, and was at first somewhat sheltered from the artillery, 
but the redcoats filled every point of rocks on the slope, and 
poured down a constant and well-directed fire of musketry and 
bad language. Not a patriot faltered, however, and with fune- 
real silence and steadiness the column pressed upward without 
firing a musket. Turning the inner abatis, the front ranks were 
within the enemy's lines, and Wayne stood by, ' spear in hand/ 
to direct the movement, when a musket-ball struck him on the 
forehead and, glancing, grazed the skull. 

" Stunned by the blow he instantly fell, but as quickly raised 
himself on one knee and shouted, 'Forward, my brave fellows; 
forward!' and turning to Captain Fishbourn and Mr. Archer, his 
aides, he requested their assistance in moving into the works, 
where, in case his wound should prove mortal, he desired to die. 
The troops desired no other incentive, and tliey dashed forward, 
bayonet in hand, climbing up the rocks from the beach to avenge 
the fall of their commander and to sustain the honor of the fiag. 
The advance of the right column, headed by its commander, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury, led the charge, followed closely by the 
regiment commanded by Colonel Febiger; and as the former officer 
sprang up the rampart, and seized the colors of the post and the 
honors of the da}', in broken terms, nearer French than English, 
he shouted the watchword, ' The fort's our oicn! ' Almost at the 
same instant the head of the left column of attack, led by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Stewart, and driving before it the portions of the 
garrison which had opposed its progress, also entered the works 
from the opposite side. Further resis'ance would have been 
madness, and the enemy . . . cried lustily for mercy." 

No time was lost in turning the guns of the captured fortress 
against the shipping in the offing, which cut their cables and 
slipped out of range; and against Verplank's Point, w^hicli wisely 
refrained from wasting ammunition in replying. The attack 
consumed only about twenty minutes, and by 2 o'clock a. m. the 
entire garrison had been secured. About twenty were killed and 
seventy-five wounded on each side (Wayne recovering from his 
knockdown in a few moments), and twenty-five officers and about 



73 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 



1 



450 privates were captured, besides the wounded, while some 
sixty escaped. Money rewards and medals were given to Wayne 
and the leaders in the assault. The ordnance and stores capt- 
ured were appraised at over $180,000, and paid for by Congress in 
cash, which was distributed among the troops engaged, and there 
was universal rejoicing and a revival of courage. 

Washington was sensible, however, that in the face of the 
immediate dispatch of a large force from New York by Clinton, 
Stony Point could not be held, and he contented himself with 
destroying the place as well as he could quickly do, and taking 
away the spoil, which was safely done — with the exception of one 
large cannon— in spite of the guns of Verplauk's Point. The 
British soon came in force, landed at Haverstruw, resumed pos- 
session of and repaired Stony Point, but, failing to beguile " Mr. 
Washington" into risking a disadvantageous battle, they soon 
returned to New York, leaving garrisons in these fortresses 
stronger than ever. The expulsion of the marauding Tryou 
from Connecticut by Putnam, and the brilliant capture of Pau- 
lus Hook (Jersey City) by the Cavalier, Lee, which immediately 
followed the Stony Point victory, aroused mightily the weakened 
confidence and zeal of the Continental army, and rekindled the 
spirit of patriotism throughout the whole weary country. At 
the end of October, Sir Henry Clinton, alarmed for the safety of 
New York, withdrew many of his outlying troops, and both 
Stony and Verplank's points were evacuated by the "redcoats" 
and again taken possession of by the "rebels," who re-opened the 
King's Ferry. In 1783, Yerplank's Point was made his tempo- 
rary headquarters by Washington, when he went there with his 
army to meet the French allies returning from Yirginia on their 
way to embark at Boston for France, and the soldiers spent 
September and October in rest and merry-making. On the one- 
hundredth anniversary of the capture of Stony Point, commem- 
orative exercises were held on the spot, and the battle was fought 
over again; the cadet battalion from West Point participating. 
The light-house on the Point stands upon the site of the fort's 
magazine. 

Verplank's Point is now covered with a scant village, farms, 
and brick-yards. Behind it, on the south side, a great ice-house 
will be noticed at the extremity of what is called Green's Cove. 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 73 

This is the lowest ice-house on the river, and one of the oldest, 
and is filled from Lake Mealiagh, which expands inland behind it. 

As the steamer rounds Verplank's Point, or the West Shore's 
train leaves Tomkins Cove (where now an enormous amount of 
lime is burned, and broken stone and gravel are sent to the city by 
the ship-load), and creeps along the base of The Dunderherg (the 
mountain on the left), with The Spitzenberg towering inland 
behind Verplank's, he is entering the Hudson Highlands. The 
Hill Country — Wequehachke of the Mohicans — risus in billows 
of bush-clothed rock ahead, where the river seems to end in a 
cul de sac; and at the right, a pretty town is half hiding in a 
ravine, half scrambling up the sides of green bluffs, where 
several brooks come down into a quiet bay. This is 

Peekskill. — Whether or not it be true that Capt. Jans Peek, 
a Dutch navigator, got stuck in the mud here, soon after the 
voyage of Henry Hudson, and spent the remainder of his life in 
contentment by the faithless stream which he had mistaken for 
the main river, and which came to be called Peek's Kill in conse- 
quence, certainly the record of the town goes far back toward 
the beginning of local history. 

In 1664, several Dutchmen bought land here at Sachoes — as 
the place was called by the local band of Indians (Kitchawonks) — 
and it was royally confirmed in 1665, as Ryck's Patent. By 1764, 
several English families had settled near here, and before the end 
of the century the village was of importance, and had several 
churches. Peekskill was not itself the scene of any very striking 
incidents of the Revolutionary War, but it was in the midst of the 
theater of almost constant campaigns. Fort Independence was 
just above the village, as its ruins testify. Troops were quar- 
tered here from time to time, and Washington often visited the 
town and Continental Village, a fortified camp a few miles north- 
east. At one period. Gen. Israel Putnam was in command, and here 
" Old Put" caught the spy. Palmer, and wrote that famous note 
to a British officer, who interposed in his behalf: "Edward 
Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was taken as a spy, 
lurking within our lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned 
as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy." Annexing, two hours 
later, that curt addendum, "P. S. He is hanged." Here too, 
in the old rural cemetery by the hospital-church (St. Peter's), is 
buried John Paulding, the captor of Andre, to whom the city of 
New York has erected a monumental shaft. He died here in 
1818, leaving several sons, one of whom, Admiral Pauldingi 
became distinguished as a naval officer. 



74 TARTIYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

Peekskill has grown steadily, and has remained the residence 
of many families whose branches became rich and famous else- 
where; while it has attracted to it, as a summer home, many prom- 
inent New Yorkers. The most widely known of these, no doubt, 
are the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, whose farm, in which he took 
the greatest delight, was two miles east of the landing, and 
Chauncey M. Depew, president of the New York Central Rail- 
road, whose pillared house is not shaded by magnificent chestnuts, 
as one might expect to see from the great crop of stories which 
that genial humorist professes to have gathered in his native vil- 
lage. That this should be a favorite place of summer residence 
is not surprising. The situation, at the southern entrance to the 
Highlands, is most pleasing and healthful ; and the rivers and hills 
present ever-changing pictures that sometimes attain to grandeur 
in their effects of sun and shade. The streets wander in all sorts 
of directions up and down and around the hills, and are densely 
shaded, while every house has spacious gardens, the smallest of 
which are thriftily kept. The country roads are excellent, and 
charming drives may be taken in every direction. 

"Gallows Hill, with its folk lore and revolutionary legends; its 
rudely marked graves, wherein lies the dust of patriot dead; its 
ruins of the magazines destroyed by Tryon and his Tory crew, 
the dismantled ovens, and the ' Wayside Inn,' in which Andre 
tarried after his arrest, are less than three miles away. In the 
east room of this old-time hostelry are yet shown the marks of his 
military boots, made as he restlessly paced up and down its nar- 
row limits. The tomb of Paulding, one of his captors, is just to 
the eastward, and St. Peter's Church, built in 17G7, and in which 
Washington once worshiped, stands but a few yards away, guard- 
ing the dust of Maj.-Gen. Seth Pomeroy, the first commander- 
in-chief of the patriot army. The Indian spring from which the 
Mohicans drank, and which ebbs and flows with the tide, is on 
the north side of Gallows Hill, overlooking the site of Continental 
Village. Here are found the remains of the revolutionary bar- 
racks. West of the Wayside Inn is the Van Cortlandt mansion, 
built by ex-Lieutenant-Governor Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt, a 
distinguished patriot and statesman of colonial and revolution- 
ary days. Six miles to the south is the Van Cortlandt manor- 
house, built by Stephanus Van Cortlandt in 1683." 

The social and educational advantages of the town are note- 
worthy. Of the schools, the most widely known is the Peekskill 
Military Academy, founded in 1838, and occupying the large 
buildings whose telescope-dome is visible from the river. It and 
the Worrall preparatory military school are under the con- 



TAKRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 75 

trol of the regents of the State University. A large school 
for girls is St. Gabriel's, under the care of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church. The conspicuous brick buildings next the river 
are tlie convent, school, and chapel of the Roman Catholic Sister- 
hood of St Francis (third order), who conduct, in the " Academy 
of Our Lady of Angels," a large school for girls. These pious 
women also have the care of an orphanage containing over 1,000 
little waifs of humanity. The public schools also are ample 
and well managed; one standing on the historic eminence. Drum 
Hill, wherein, it has been written, are stored the drum-beats of 
the Revolution, to be evoked by him who treads upon its sur- 
face. The nucleus of a free library bas been established, and all 
sorts of benevolent, educational, and fraternal societies exist. 

Peekskill is strong commercially. The population now 
approaches 10,000, but ihe village government is retained. The 
leading industry is the making of stoves, in which $1,000,000 is 
invested and 1,000 persons are employed. This dates from 1835, 
when the present great Union Stove Works were founded, followed 
since by seven or eight other establishments. The making of 
brick, fire-brick, and the machinery and apparatus used in brick- 
making, form another extensive series of industries. In addi- 
tion, this thriving village has several machine shops, two paper 
mills, and a large number of lesser factories of various kinds, 
including a yacht and boat building yard. The town has public 
water and a complete sewerage system; is lighted by gas and elec- 
tricity; maintains uniformed police and fire departments, and free 
mail delivery. Its public buildings are good, and the new Depew 
Opera House is of the first class. There are two long-estab- 
lished banks, four weekly newspapers, and an energetic board of 
trade. Peekskill is the terminal station of the suburban trains of 
the Hudson River Railroad, which, with other trains, gives it 
hourly communication with New York (forty three miles); is a 
calling-place for the steamer Emmeline, which runs daily 
between Haverstraw and New^burgh; and has a daily New York 
boat of its own in the Chrystenah. A ferry crosses the river to 
Jones' Point (Caldwell Landing). 

Peekskill lies mainly upon the southern bank of Peekskill Bay, 
which receives three creeks — the Peek's Kill, or Sachoes, and its 
two branches, Annsville and Sprout creeks ; the Canopus, aiid a 
third. The railway crosses the bay through a fleet of anchored 
pleasure boats, and then curves around the base of a spur of the 
Highlands called. Manito Mount. At the head, of this little bay, 
where a level plateau, long known as Roa Hook, stands about 
eighty feet above tlic streams on cjich side, is the 

State Camp of Instruction for the National Guard. Here, 
during the summer, each regiment is brought in turn to encamp 



76 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

and be drilled iii the practical work of campaigning. Though 
the men live in tents in true soldier style, the grounds have been 
carefully arranged in respect to sewerage and sanitation, the 
"streets" of tents are lighted by electricity, a large mess-hall 
forms an eating-house for the officers, a wharf olfers a convenient 
landing-place for steamers, and a model battery affords object 
lessons in artillery practice. Remembering that almost every 
point within view was fortified, and every vale a camping-ground, 
in the Avar for our independence, no spot more appropriate, as 
well as delightfid, for the purpose could have been chosen. A 
ferry communicates with Peekskill, and visitors are welcomed at 
the camp at all suitable hours. 

The Passage of the Hudson Highlands now begins. This 
is regarded a-^ the culmination of the journey in point of scenery, 
but is perhaps anticipated with too large expectations by most 
travelers; The railroads on each side skirt llie water's edge 
through the whole length of the gorge; now and then dodging 
through a tunnel or behind a rocky wall, but, on the whole, giv- 
ing as good a view as one obtains from the boats; better, in some 
respects, for the mountains, when looked at from the water's 
edge, appear taller than from the high decks of a "day-liner." 
Of the two railroads, that upon the eastern bank offers the more 
interesting outlook, since it commands a sight of all the old forts, 
West Point, and the Cro' Nest group of hills; but the view from 
the western shore is also very interesting. None of these heights 
much exceeds 1,500 feet, and this is attained only in Storm King, so 
that it is only by courtesy that they can be called "mountains." 
All are merely huge hillocks of primitive rocks — a part of the 
Archccan framework of the continent— covered with brush, from 
which all the tall timber was long ago taken away, and the newer 
trees are cut as soon as they become of useful size. Fortunately, 
however, this brush is close and green, for no fires have swept 
through it for many years, and, to the casual glance, looks like 
the original forest. At several points, however, the cliffs have 
been and continue to be cut away to supply crushed stone, leav- 
ing ugly scars, and marring the banks with unsightly buildings. 
Upon none of these hills are there any signs of agriculture, for 
there is no cultivable soil, nor many residences, since their ledges 
are too steep and inaccessible. All civilization, therefore, is near 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 77 

the water's edge, except upon the plateaus about Cranston's and 
West Point, and about Garrison's opposite, where it is masked 
by trees, for the most part. In the moonlight, or upon a day when 
a storm is raging in these narrows, or with the twilight shadows 
filling the gorge, half hiding and half revealing the jutting rocks 
and swelling hills, a majestic and picturesque interest of no mean 
degree belongs to the scene; but in the broad light of a clear sum- 
mer noon, as most tourists see it, the passage of the Highlands is 
monotonous, and far from the "grand" or "sublime" spectacle it 
has often been styled. These Highlands appear to best advantage, 
undoubtedly, from a distance, as when approaching them from 
the south, or gazing backward from Newburgh. 

"The passage of the Hudson," Willis once remarked, "is 
doomed to be re-written, and we will not swell its great multi- 
tude of describers," Amen! But another remark of Willis is 
well worth repetition in this connection: 

"The qualities of the Hudson," says the genial author of Rural 
Letters, "are those most likely to impress a stranger. It chances 
felicitously that the traveler's first entrance beyond the sea- 
board is usually made by the steamer to Albany. The grand and 
imposing outlines of rock and horizon answer to his anticipations 
of the magnificence of a new world; and if he finds smaller rivers 
and softer scenery beyond, it strikt s him but as a slighter linea- 
ment of a more enlarged design. To the great majority of tastes, 
this, too, is the scenery to live among. The stronger lines of 
natural beauty affect most tastes; and there arc few who would 
select country residence by beauty at all, who would not sacrifice 
something lo their preference for the neighborhood of sublime 
scenery. The quiet, the merely rural — a thread of a rivulet 
instead of a broad river — a small and secluded valley, rather 
than a wide extent of view, bounded by bold mountains, is the 
choice of but few. The Hudson, therefore, stands usually fore- 
most in men's aspirations for escape from the turmoil of cities, 
but, to my taste, though there are none more desirable to see, 
there are sweeter rivers to live upon." 
• 

But apart from the question of scenery, the passage of the 
Highlands is full of entertainment to every one interested in 
colonial history, or in the modern manifestations of summer 
pleasure-seeking. 

Here at the southern entrance, where the foot of the Dunder- 
berg is stretched out against the current, is Kidd's Point (with 
its village and railway station, Jones' Point, or Caldwell Land- 



78 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POlN'T. 

imj), where the ground has been dug over aud over in search 
the renowned pirate's buried treasures. 

" On the strength of a cannon fished from the water," we are 
told, "an audacious adventurer proclaimed that Kidd's pirate 
vessel had foundered in a storm on this spot, with untold 
treasures on board, and that the vessel had been penetrated with 
a very long auger, which had brought up pieces of silver in its 
thread. A stock company was formed; shares were readily sold; 
and a coffer-dam, with powerful steam-engines, was built over 
the supposed resting-place of the ship." 

So was another disaster added to the long and gay record 
of financial romances and human gullibility. 

The Dunderberg (Thunder Mount) itself is a massive hill, 
1,100 feet high, along the base of which are small farms upon a 
terrace that plainly marks an ancient river bank. A ferry runs 
hourly between this place and Peekskill; and picnic parties often 
ascend to the summit, where an attractive view rewards them for 
a not very arduous climb. This summit has been bought by a 
corporation, which proposes to erect a hotel there, and to make a 
pleasure-park upon Jones' Point, at the base, connecting the two 
by a spiral gravity railway about thirteen miles long. It will be 
interesting to learn, when this is done, whether it dislodges the 
mischievous and rollicking little goblins who were wont, in the 
good old times, to make merry upon the mountain, during the 
storms that the ancient sloop-captains suspected them of contriv- 
ing out of pure devilry. 

" One time," the veritable Diedrich Knickerbocker assures us, 
"a sloop, in passing by the Dunderberg, was overtaken by a 
thunder-gust that came scouring round the mountain, and seemed 
to burst just over the vessel. Though tight and well ballasted, 
she labored dreadfully, and the water came over the gunwale. 
All the crew were amazed, when it was discovered that there 
was a little while sugar-loaf hat on the mast-head, known at once 
to be the hat of the Head of the Dunderberg. Nobody, however, 
dared to climb to the mast-head and get rid'of this terrible hat. 
The sloop continued laboring and rocking, as if she would have 
rolled her mast overboard; and she seemed in continual danger 
either of upsetting or of running on shore. In this way she 
drove quite through the Highlands, until she passed Pollopel's 
Island, where, it is said, the jurisdiction of the Dunderberg 
potentate ceases. No sooner had she passed this bourn, than 
the little hat sprung up into the air like a top, whirled up all the 
clouds into a vortex, and hurried them back to the summit of the 






TARllYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 79 

Dunderberg, while the sloop righted herself, and sailed on as 
quietly as if in a mill-pond. Notliing saved her from' utter 
wreck but the fortunate circumstance of having a horseshoe 
nailed against the mast — a most wise precaution against evil 
spirits, since adopted by all the Dutch captains that navigate this 
haunted river." 

Our course turns almost at right angles around the protruding 
foot of the Dunderberg as we ascend the river, and we find our- 
selves entering the narrowest and straightest of its reaches, called 
The Horse Race, or, more shortly, 21ie Race — a treacherous place 
for sailing craft. The mountain on the immediate right is 
Manito, and beyond it is seen the profile of Anthony's Nose, 
pierced at the tip by a railway tunnel. On the left, an amphi- 
theater of foot-hills opens backward to the slope of Bear Mount 
(1,350 feet high), north of which are the loftier slopes of Mount 
Rascal, Black Rock, and other summits in the rear of Cro' Nest. 
Between the Dunderberg and Bear Mount, and across the hollow 
at our left, winds the ancient road that Clinton followed in '77, 
and along which Wayne's troops crept stealthily on that eventful 
June evening when they went to attack Stony Point; and Sinni- 
pink, one of the many ponds hidden in those hollows (Highland 
Lake of modern picnickers, careless of the old traditions), has 
been "Bloody Pond," or "The Hessians' Lake," to the country 
people ever since the Fort Montgomery fight. 

Tradition says that several of the hated mercenaries fell upon 
its shores, and were thrown into its dark waters; and the older and 
more experienced among them, who have seen the vainglory of 
scoffing youth brought to contrition again and again, relate that 
still upon overcast and gusty nights, such as come among those 
mountains in midsummer, ghostly apparitions, in helmets and 
vast riding-boots, may be seen flitting across the dark bosom of 
the pond; and that there floats to the frightened ear the whisper- 
ing of commands in a strange tongue, and the rattle of ghostly 
sabers and harness. This thrilling rehearsal of a sanguinary 
past is more artistic fiction than most of the tales one hears, but it 
is fiction nevertheless. Yet the truth is oven more horrifying; for 
into that pond were thrown, after the capture of Fort Mont- 
gomery, all the bodies of the American dead, unshrived and 
forgotten. 

Down by the riverside, here, is lona Island — a grape farm and 
7 



so TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

a resort for picnics, which come from the city in barges, or by 
the railroad that sliirts its inland border where it is separated 
from the mainland by a marshy inlet, called Doodletown Harbor 
—the seaport of Doodletown, a city of the hills, a mile or two 
above this peaceful Piraeus. 

Anthony's Nose, or St. Anthony's Nose, as it used to be 
written sometimes, is the long ridge sloping down to the river on 
the right, and causing the bend in the current at the top of the 
Horse Race, The explanation of this extraordinary name for a 
very ordinary heap of rocks, some 1,228 feet high, has set every- 
body guessing. It was just the provocation needed by Irving, 
who accounts for it by one of his ridiculous Knickerbocker 
stories. A more serious explanation is that given by Freeman 
Hunt as told him by Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt, the owner of 
the mountain, in 1835, as follows: 

"Before the Revolution, a vessel was passing up the river, 
under the command of a Capt. Anthony Ilogans; when imme- 
diately opposite this mountain, the mate looked rather quizzically, 
first at the mountain, and then at the captain's nose. The cap- 
tain, by the way, had an enormous nose, which was not unfre- 
quently the subject of good-natured remark, and he at once 
understood the allusion. 'What!' says the captain, 'does that 
look like my nose? Call it then, if you please, Anthony's Nose.' " 

Anthony's Nose may be reached, on land, by a road which 
branches off to the left somewhat over a mile beyond Annsville, 
on the road from Peekskill to Garrisons. Excavations have been 
made for the piers of a railway bridge there, but the work long 
ago ceased. 

Montgomery Creek is the modern name of the pretty stream 
in old times called Poplopen's Kill — after an influential Indian 
who dwelt in its valley — the mouth of which is in the ravine 
directly opposite Anthony's Nose. Down this deep and narrow 
ravine come the waters of a large circle of highland brooks and 
ponds, tumbling in pretty cascades. On the elevated headlands 
that confront one another and the river at the mouth of this 
ravine, there were erected, early in the Revolutionary War, two 
forts, Montgomery, on the northern side, and Clinton, a less impor- 
tant outwork, on the southern bluff. Their guns would sweep 
the river in both directions, and the greatest reliance was placed 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 81 

upon their ability to resist assault, and guard agaijist aay further 
ascent of the Hudson by British ships. How well they answeied 
these expectations, in 1777, may be read in any history. The 
ensuing notes closely follow the narrative in Lossing's Life and 
Times of Philip Schuyler: 

THE FALL OF THE HIGHLAND FORTS. 

In September, 1777, Gen. Burgoyne, with an army of British 
regulars and Hessian and Canadian auxiliaries, was attempting 
to carry out the instructions of the British ministry, who wished 
him to open communication along the Hudson between the English 
forces in Quebec and those in New York, and thereby cut the 
United States in two. As Mr. Ruttenber remarks, it was Sher- 
man's "march to the sea," without Sherman's success. He had 
been checked and invested by Schuyler and Gates near Saratoga, 
and wrote lo Sir Henry Clinton in New York that he must be 
relieved by October 12th if he were to be saved. Clinton, who 
had been waiting for slow reinforcements from England, made all 
haste, as soon as these arrived, to go to Burgoyne's relief, and 
late in September his war ships and flatboats, carrying and con- 
veying from 3,000 to 4,000 men, started up the Hudson. 

The American forces of this district, not exceeding 2,000 men, 
were commanded by Gen. Putnam at Peekskill, while Gen. George 
Clinton, Governor of the State, was in special charge of Fort 
Montgomery, with his brother James as commander of Fort 
Clinton. Putnam sent a statement of the threatening attitude of 
the enemy to Gov. Clinton, then presiding over the first session 
of the first State Legislature, at Kingston, and begged reinforce- 
ments, but none were to be had. 

Hie defenses of the Hudson were concentrated here where the 
river was narrow and curved, and the rough hills formed a nat- 
ural protection to the flanks of the position. Besides these two 
forts, Fort Independence stood on the shoulder of Mount Manito, 
just above Peekskill; and the navigation of the river was 
obstructed by a hooin and chain stretched from Anthony's Nose 
to the point of rocks just below the present iron railroad 
bridge at the foot of the crag upon which Fort Clinton stood, 
and the place is still known as Chain Point. A. railway sus- 
pension bridge has been planned to span the river precisely at this 
place, and an excavation for its pier has already been cut on 
Anthony's Nose, but work has ceased. A part of this Fort 



82 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

Montgomery chain was brought from Lake Champlain, where 
Schuyler had made it serve a similar purpose in 1775; and there 
were moored above it some gunboats, intended to prevent an 
enemy from reaching it in boats to cut a passage through. 

The strength of these defenses determined Clinton to avoid a 
direct attack, and attempt their downfall by stratagem. Landing 
at Verplank's Point, then unguarded,he impressed the rather heed- 
less Putnam with the belief that the first objects of his attack were 
Peekskill and Fort Independence. Putnam drew reinforcements 
from the forts that could ill spare them, and took up a defensive 
position in the hills; but instead of assailing him, the British com- 
mander suddenly recrossed, with 2,000 men, at the King's Ferry, 
in a dense fog on the morning of October 6th, leaving about 1,000, 
chiefly loyalists, at Verplank's Point to keep up the aspect of 
menace toward Peekskill. At the same time, the war vessels 
were ordered to anchor oif Fort Independence, within cannon 
shot of the Highland forts, and to fire upon them and upon the 
vessels above the chain. 

" Piloted by a Tory, Sir Henry made a forced circuitous march 
from Stony Point around the southern and western bases of the 
Duuderberg, through rugged defiles, for several miles, and at 8 
o'clock, in the pass between that height and Bear Mount, his 
force was separated into two parties, iu each of which were many 
Hessian hirelings. One division, composed of 400 loyalists under 
Col, Beverly Robinson, and 500 British regulars and Hessians, 
was led by Lieut. -Col. Campbell, and directed to go around 
Bear Mount, and fall upon Fort Montgomery; while the other 
division, destined for Fort Clinton, and full 1,200 in number, 
was led by Gen. Yaughan, accompanied by Sir Henry. Ex- 
Go v. Tryon was left in the valley with a rear-guard. 

"Meanwhile Gov. Clinton, who, on Sunday evening, was 
informed of the landing of troops at Verplank's Point, and who 
had brought to Fort Montgomery 400 recruits, had sent out a 
reconnoitering party at dawn on Monday morning. Three miles 
south of the fort, this party fell in with the British advance guard, 
and made a sharp, running fight as it retreated to the breastworks, 
and reported the approach of the enemy, whose advance was con- 
tested all the way from the Dunderberg. Gov. Clinton then sent 
a messenger to Putnam for aid. The man turned traitor and 
deserted to the British. Putnam, in the meantime, was astonished 
at hearing nothing from the enemy, who, he supposed, was about 
to attack him at Peekskill. He went out to reconnoiter in the 
afternoon, and did not return until firing was heard in the direc- 
tion of the forts, and when, at the, instanf^^i of riol, Humphreys, 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 83 

reinforcements had been sent — though too late —from the camp at 
Continental Village near Peekskill." 

Such is the account which Lossing gives; but the published 
diary of one of Clinton's officers says that he himself, on the 
second night before the attack, personally informed Putnam of 
the position of affairs, and was refused attention; and that he 
returned, and took part in the whole fight, and was among the 
prisoners. He declaretl that he found Putnam at "Beverly," 
where the ' ' young Ladys and the mother, the night Before the 
Fort was Taken, Entertained Gen. Putnam with that Pleasing 
a tention that he forgot what he had been informed of the night 
before, by myself." As the husband and father of these ladies 
was in the attacking party, it is fair to surmise that they knew 
what was going on, and were exercising their fascinations for the 
express purpose of distracting the attention of the American 
officer from his duties of defense. 

While Campbell was making his way around Bear Mount, 
Vaughan and Sir Henry pressed toward their goal, along a way 
near the river. At a narrow pass, between Lake Sinnipink and 
the steep bank of the Hudson, they encountered an abatis, and 
there they had a severe fight with the Americans. These were 
pushed back, and, at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, both posts 
were invested. At 5, a demand for the surrender of Fort 
Clinton— which was scarcely more than an outwork — was sent in, 
and scornfully refused, whereupon a simultaneous assault upon 
both fortresses was made by the troops, and by the vessels-of-war 
in the river. Lossing proceeds: 

"The garrisons were composed mostly of untrained militia. 
They behaved nobly, and kept up the defense vigorously, 
against a greatly superior force of disciplined and veteran sol- 
diers, until twilight, when they were overpowered, and sought 
safety in a scattered retreat to the neighboring mountains. Many 
escaped, but a considerable number were slain or made prisoners. 
The brothers who commanded the forts escaped. The Governor 
fled across the river in a boat, and at midnight was with Gen. 
Putnam at Continental Village, concerting measures for stopping 
the invasion. James, forcing his way to the rear, across the high- 
way bridge, and receiving a bayonet wound in the thigh, safely 
reached his home at New Windsor. A sloop of ten guns, the 
frigate Montgomery — twenty four guns — and two row-galleys, sta- 
tioned near the boom and chain for their protection, slipped their 



84 TAKRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

cables and attempted to escape, but there was no wind to fill their 
sails, and they were burned by the Americans to prevent their 
falling into the hands of the enemy. The frigate Congress — 
twenty-eight guns — which had already gone up the river, shared 
the same fate on the flats near Fort Constitution, which was 
abandoned." [Both frigates were built at or near Poughkeepsie, 
and never went to sea.] " By the light of the burning vessels, the 
fugitive garrisons made their way over the rugged mountains, 
and a large portion of them joined Gen, Clinton at New 
Windsor the next day. They had left many of their brave 
companions behind, who, to the number of 250, had been slain 
or made prisoners. The British, too, had parted with many men 
and brave ofliicers. Among the latter was Lieut. -Col. Campbell. 
[Sir Henry himself narrowly escaped a grape-shot.] 

"Early in the morning of the 7th of October, the river obstruc- 
tions between Fort Montgomery and Anthony's Nose, which cost 
the Americans $250,000, were destroyed, and a light flying squad- 
ron, commanded by Sir James Wallace, and bearing a large num- 
ber of land troops under Gen. Vaughan, sailed up the river on a 
marauding expedition, with instruci ions from Sir Henry to scatter 
desolation in their paths. It was hoped that such an expedition 
would draw troops from the Northern army [Gates'] for the 
protection of the country below, and thereby assist Burgoyne." 

From all this, however, Burgoyne received no advantage, 
mainly owing to one of those miscarriages of plans which seem 
to have been constantly happening in that war, where English 
spies and couriers were always coming to grief. On the morning 
of the 9tli, when Gen. Clinton was leaving New Windsor with 
the little force he could hastily gather, in an attempt to keep pace 
with the British squadron on that side of the river, and resist their 
landings, while Putnam, who had abandoned Peekskill, endeav- 
ored to protect the people of the eastern shore — on this morning, two 
strangers blundered headlong into the camp from the south, and 
failed to discover that they were among the soldiers of the Amer- 
ican instead of the English Clinton — because these were clothed 
in captured British uniforms not yet dyed— until carried to the 
governor's quarters. Then one of them hastily swallowed some- 
thing, whereuix)n an emetic was administered and a silver bullet 
was thrown up. He swallowed it again, but under a threat of 
being immediately hanged and opened, was made to take a second 
emetic with the same result. The bullet, yet preserved in Albany, 
was an elliptical shell, joined together in the middle, containing 
nothing more than an announcement of the victory, "andnoth- 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 85 

ing between us and Gates"; but its failure to reach Burgoyne 
deprived him of hope, and led to his surrender only a few days 
later (October 13th). Nevertheless, Clinton's capture of the High- 
lands was of indirect service to him, for when Gates heard of it, 
and of the depredations of the men and ships ascending the Hud- 
sou, he felt inclined to grant to Burgoyne easier terms than were 
at first proposed, and hasten southward to drive back the invaders. 

Forts Montgomery and Clinton may still be traced, though 
reduced by a century of weathering, and overgrown with trees and 
brush. The former is easily accessible by a path which leads 
up from the railroad track at the little tool house a hun- 
dred yards below the station Fort Montgomery, which is the 
station for a farming and summering village, of the same name, 
on the turnpike. 

As the steamer swings around Anthony's Nose, and enters 
Crescent Reach, masses of mountains loom up ahead — the true 
Highlands. On the left, the heights of Cranston's — marked by 
its two great hotels — and of West Point, crowned by the ruins 
of Fort Putnam, fall steeply down to the river, whose bank there 
is a line of rugged precipices, beneath which the railroad runs 
'along the beach; and on beyond are seen the summits of Cro' Nest. 
On the right, the conical, detached elevation of Sugar Loaf is 
prominent near at hand, while in the distance are the clustered 
heights of Bull Hill (Mount Taurus), The Turk's Face 
(Breakneck), and South Beacon Hill. The land on the right is 
in Putnam County, which succeeds Westchester County at 
Anthony's Kose ; and that on the left is in Orange County, which 
begins at Fort Montgomery, where Rockland County terminates, 
and Monroe County corners between them at the mouth of 
Montgomery Creek. 

Along the elevated highway, on the western side, which, 
though not far away, is quite out of sight from the river, dwell 
many persons of note, whose estates come to the brink of the 
bluff. Near Fort Montgomery lives John S. Gilbert; then the 
Pells; and a little farther, just opposite Sugar Loaf, J. Pierpont 
Morgan, the merchant philanthropist. Farther up this beautiful 
road are the elegant places of Alfred Pell, Charles Tracey, Capt. 
S. B. Roe, on the Satterlee estate, the " Benny Havens " cottage, 
and John Bigelow, at " The Squirrels." Here tbe line of crags is 



86 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 



I 



broken by a ravine, where, in times of freshet, a stream leaps 
over a ledge in the pretty cataract, long ago named Buttermilk 
Falls; and on the plateau at the head of this ravine is the village . 
of Higliland Falls, which is not only a market town and place of f 
shipment for dairy products and fruit in large quantities, but a 
resort for summer boarders. At the mouth of the ravine is a . 
steamboat-landing, touched at by several lines of boats, and the 
railway station Cranston's. It is a busy spot in summer. The 
" Parry House " is a flourishing hotel on the hillside, south of the 
ravine; while on the northern bluff, overlooking the river, and 
conspicuous from steamboats or the Hudson River Railroad trains, 
is " Cranston's Hotel," one of the oldest hotels in the valley. In 
summer " Cranston's," as the whole locality is familiarly styled, 
is a very lively, populous, and fashionable place, and a ferry is 
operated between the landing and Garrison's. The day-line 
boats, however, stop only at "West Point, where stages from 
Highland Falls meet the boat and trains. 

The Eastern Shore, here, is comparatively low, and the 
Hudson River Railroad had no serious difficulties to encounter. 
There, too, the ancient highway is near the river, and along it 
are many fine residences. The first of these, noticeable, is that of 
F. A. Livingston, on the southern side of a little cove. The 
upper side of this cove is formed by a small rocky headland, 
where a small wharf and some stone buildings are visible. This 
is Beverly Dock, where Benedict Arnold embarked in his barge 
to flee to the Vulture, on the morning of Andre's arrest; and 
whence Washington and his staff took a boat for West Point a few , 
moments later. And " Beverly," the mansion and farm of Col. I 
Beverly Robinson, was a quarter of a mile back, upon the fertile 
terrace at the foot of Sugar Loaf. The locality still bears that 
name, but the house was burned in the spring of 1893. It was a 
quaint old-time mansion, and visitors used to be shown, in tlie 
principal bedchamber, the names of many officers of the Con- 
tinental army, carved on the mantel- piece by them as from time 
to time they spent one or more nights there. Just above is the 
residence of Mrs. Underhill; and near by, at " Glencliffe," in a 
brick house on this bluff, dwelt Hamilton Fish, Sr. 

It now appears that Sugar Loaf is the southernmost of a range 
of connected hills parallel with the river, and with the greater 



TARRYTO^SVTSr TO WEST POINT. 87 

heights eastward; and the eye will be attracted to a lofty white 
building perched upon the very summit of the hill, next north- 
ward. This is the house of the late Wm. H. Osborne, and the 
prospect from the tower embraces the whole extent of the High- 
lands. On the northern slope of the same hill, much lower down, 
is the new house of a son, also made of white limestone quarried 
on the property. A little way beyond, and not seen from the 
river, is the spacious estate of Samuel Sloan, president of the 
Delaware & Lackawanna Railroad Co. The hill behind 
him is named Redoubt Mountain, and is crowned by Mr. Sloan's 
skeleton tower, which gives a view of great breadth and beauty. 
Still farther north, on the same high ground, is the old and 
favorite Highland Hotel (stages meet the train at Garrison's 
station); "Cedar Crest," the residence of J. M. Toucey, general 
manager of the New York Central Railroad; and the home of the 
Rev. Walter Thompson, rector of St. Phillips-in-the-Highlands. 
Nearer the river, and in sight of passengers on steamboats, is a 
line of costly properties. The first above the estate of the late 
Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, upon a point directly opposite 
Cranston's Hotel, is "Arden," the estate of Col. T. B. Arden, 
above which is that of H. W. Belcher, still the residence of his 
widow; then comes the home of Hamilton Fish, Jr., marked by 
its huge red chimneys; then the home of Mrs. Col. S. M. Ben- 
jamin. The yellow and white house just above the station is that 
of W. Livingston; upon the bank of the cove beyond lives John 
T. Sherman; and beyond that is seen the Gouverneur estate, 
now occupied by Gen. Louis Fitzgerald. 

This collection of costly and splendid country-seats, including 
many not mentioned, because not conspicuous, constitutes a dis- 
trict termed Garrison's. It has a railway station that is impor- 
tant to the general public, mainly the station for the Highland and 
Croft hotels, and for the Ferry to West Point (fare 15 cents). 
The locality, then known as MandimVs, saw much marching and 
camping of troops, and contains the remains of batteries, but 
experienced no fighting. 

" The traveler has now arrived under the shadow of the bold 
promontory of primitive rock, flanked by shaggy cliffs, and com- 
manded by wooded heights in the rear, which constitutes West 
Point, and bears upon its plateau the United States Military 
Academy. 



^8 TARRYfOWN TO WEST POINT. 

? 
THE TOUR OF WEST POINT. f 

West Point is probably the most interesting stopping-place 
upon the Hudson for the casual traveler; and every one is strongly 
advised to arrange his journey so as to spend a few hours there 
It is possible to reach or leave the place almost hourly by boat or 
one or the other of the railways; and a hotel exists, where a longer 
halt may be made in comfort when the house is not crowded A 
favorite plan is to go up from New York on a morning boat 
spend three or four hours at the Post, and return by the after- 
noon boat down. Midday, however, is the least favorable time 
as the drills, parade, and other picturesque incidents take place 
mamly toward sunset. Twenty-four hours can be pleasantly 
and profitably spent here. 

From the steamboat landing roads diverge right and left up 
the hill; that to the left goes to Cranston's; that to the right to the 
Military Academy. An omnibus and carriages meet all trains 
and boats; and if you have baggage and are going to the hotel it 
IS advisable to ride; otherwise, the distance up the hill is none too 
great to be walked.* 

At the top of the first slope, leave the road, and take the foot- 
path slanting upward toward the right. 

blnff ^^n hrfr?i"S.,^f r '' ^^^^f. '^^"^ '^^^^^ ^^^ht, at the brink of the 
blutt-abick building with an arched roof, completed in 1855 
when Gen (then Colonel) Robert E. Lee was superintendent + It is 
floored with t^n-bark, and here the cadets are taught ho sLan' 
ship and cava ry exercises. This is the most interesting of all L 
dnlls. Outside stairways admit spectators to galleries; but these 
are small and uncomfortable. 

Just beyond it are the stables, with quarters for 100 horses 
ihese and all equipments pertaining to this arm of the service 
are^cared for by the detachment of regular cavalry slationed 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 89 

The path brings the visitor out upon the main street of the 
Post, which here skirts the edge of the plateau. At his left, 
facing the river, is Grant Hall, or the Mess Hall, as it is more 
familiarly known. 

This building may be visited between meal hours by those 
who wish to see the collection of fine portraits which adorns its 
walls. The list is now as follows: 1. Maj.-Gen. John F. Rey- 
nolds. 2. Maj.-Gen. John Sedgwick. 8. Col. J. J. Abert. 4. 
Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield. 5. Gen. U. S. Grant. 6. Gen. 
William T. Sherman. 7. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan. 8. Maj.-Gen. 
E. O. C. Ord. 9. Brig.-Gen. Wesley Merritt. 10. Capt. Brad- 
ford R. Alden. 11. Brvt. Maj.-Gen. G. K. Warren. 12. Brvt. 
Maj.-Gen. Thomas Swords. 13. Maj.-Gen. George Meade. 14 
Brvt. Maj.-Gen. R. O. Tyler. 15. Col. J. Gilchrist Benton. 16. 
Maj.-Gen. J. B. Ricketts. 17. Maj.-Gen. George B. McClellan. 
18. Maj.-Gen. C. F. Smith. 19. Brvt. Maj.-Gen. Stewart Van 
Vleit. 20. Brvt. Brig.-Gen. T. J. Rodman". 21. Maj.-Gen. H. 
W. Halleck. 22. Brvt. Maj.-Gen. G. W. Cullum. 23. Brig.- 
Gen. Robert Anderson. 24. Maj.-Gen. H. W. Slocum. 25. Col. 
J. M. Wilson. 26. Brig.-Gen. Daniel Tyler. 27. Brig.-Gen. 
Geo. Stoneman. 

Beyond Grant Hall is the Hospital. Immediately in front of 
the observer, the new Academic Building, which was finished for 
use in 1895; and at his right is the Administration Building, or 
Post headquarters, on the east side of the street. It is not open 
to visitors in general, but makes appropriate a few words here 
as to the organization and status of the school. 

The United States Military Academy dates from the close 
of the Revolution. It was natural that a nation, welded, as the 
American had been, in the slow fires of a long war, and keeping its 
military chiefs in the highest civil offices, should think of future 
wars, and the education of young men to soldierly duties. Wash- 
ington, Knox, and others urged the organization of a National 
Academy where regular instruction in the art of war should be 
given; and in 1794 Congress authorized a corps of artillerists and 
engineers which should be kept stationed at West Point, and under 
constant training; and enjoined the attachment to it of thirty-two 
students, or " cadets." In 1798, this corps was enlarged; special 
instructors " in the arts and sciences" were appointed, and cadet 
became a definite rank between that of sergeant and ensign (now 
second lieutenant). The cadets are thus regularly members of 
the army, and subject to its laws the same as other commissioned 
oflacers. Jb'ormeriy, they were enlisted for five years, but now 
for eight; and the United States claims their services for four 
years after graduation, though the Government is not in duty 
bound to find a commission in the army for every graduate. 
Step by step, the school was segregated and enlarged, until in 



90 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

1812 it was opened to 260 studeuts, and assumed somewhat of its 
present form. Tlie first superintendent was Gen. Jonathan 
WlHiams, and one of his professors was F. R. Hassler, who after- 
ward beeame distinguished in the Coast Survey. Others succeeded 
him, until 1817, Avhen Col. Sylvamis Thayer, now revered as the 
" Fjither of tlie Academy," took command, and brought the 
school into a far higher condition than it had previously known. 
It was he who introduced the present uniform, organization, rules 
of study, reports, etc., substantially in vogue to-day, and to 
which tlie Academy owes its discipline and effectiveness. He 
remained until 183B, when he resigned, and was followed by other 
officers in more rapid succession, until now the rule obtains that 
the superintendent and officers detailed to the Post or school 
shall not, as a rule, serve more th^n four years. The ' ' professors," 
however, each of whom has charge of an educational department, ■ 
are appointed for life, or as long as they continue to give satis- I 
faction; and have the assimilated rank of lieutenant-colonel, or I 
colonel, after a service of ten years, and are subject to retirement. | 
They are thus army officers, in effect, and their assistants are 
wholly derived from the service. Thus the military idea is 
diffused throughout tbe whole course of training, which is 
mainly scientific and practical; too much so, in the opinion of 
some modern critics, who insist that the literary side of the edu- 1 
cation is too little regarded. 

West Point, however, is not only a school, but a regular army 
post — perhaps the oldest in tbe United States, as such; and the 
suj)erintendent is commander of the whole Post, including the 
Academy, and having in his staff the usual adjutant, quarter- 
master, etc., as at any army station. Next in rank to him is the 
commandant of cadets, who is commander of the Cadet Battalion. 

This battalion is divided into four infantry companies, each 
commanded by a regular officer of the army, detailed for the 
purpose, and officered under him by cadets from the upper 
classes, who are appointed for general excellence in military 
deportment and studies, and accept the distinction as an honor. 
There is also a cadet adjutant, who is the highest cadet officer in 
rank except the four captains. It will please the readers of Capt. 
Cliarles King's delightful novels of military life to learn that 
during his cadetship he was promoted through various giades 
to this adjutancy, and was twice afterward returned to the 
Academy as an instructor. While ' ' on duty, " every point of mili- 
tary etiquette is observed by the students toward their cadet 
officers, but otherwise no distinction whatever is made between 
these and their fellows. The cadet officers are marked by chev- 
rons of gold lace on their dress-coats, and of black braid on their 
everyday " blouses. The awkward ' ' squads " of each new class 
are drilled by these cadet officers, and after a month of it are 
scattered through the battalion, whose companies are organized 
regardless of class distinctions. 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 91 

The staff of the Military Academy consisted of the fol- 
lowing officers on September 1, 1896: 

Superintendent. — Col. O. H. Ernst, Lieut. -Col., Corps of 
Engineers. 

Military Staff. — Capt. Wilber E. Wilder, Fourtli Cavalry, 
Adjutant of the Military Academy, Post Adjutant and Recruiting 
Officer, Commanding Band and Detachment of Field Music. Capt. 
William F. Spurgin, Twenty-first Infantry, Treasurer of the Mili- 
tary Academy, and Quartermaster and Commissary of Cadets. 
Capt. John B. Bellinger, Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. A., Quar- 
termaster of the Military Academy, Post Quartermaster, and Dis- 
bursing Officer. First Lieut. Barrington K. West, Sixth Cavalry, 
Post Commissary of Subsistence, and Post Treasurer; in charge 
of Post Exchange. First Lieut. William Weigel, Eleventh 
Infantry, Assistant to Post Quartermaster, and Officer of Police. 
George H. Torney, Surgeon U. S. A., Post Surgeon. Capt. 
Charles F. Mason, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A. Capt, Charles 
Willcox, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A, Rev. (Capt.) Herbert 
Shipman, Chaplain. 

Academic Staff. — Department of Natural and Ex-perimental 
PMlosophy. — (Col.) Peter S. Michie, Professor (14th February, 
1871). Capt. William B. Gordon, Ordnance Department, Assist- 
ant Professor. First Lieut. Henry C. Davis, Third Artillery; 
First Lieut. Isaac M. Lewis, Second Artillery, Instructors. First 
Lieut. S. D. Freeman, Tenth Cavalry, in charge of Observatory 
and Astronomical Calculations. 

Department of Drawing. — (Col.) Charles W. Earned, Profes- 
sor (25th July, 1876). Second Lieut. Ch. B. Hagadorn, Twenty- 
third Infantry; Second Lieut. H. M. Reeve, Third Infantry; 
Second Lieut. Walter C. Babcock, Eighth Cavalry, Instructors. 

Department of Mathematics. — (Col.) Edgar W. Bass, Profes- 
sor (17th April, 1878). (Capt.) Wright P. Edgerton, Associate 
Professor (1st July, 1893). First Lieut. D. B. Devore, Twenty- 
third Infantry; First Lieut. John S. Winn, First Cavalry; First 
Lieut. Charles P. Echols, Corps of Engineers; Second Lieut. 
William O. Johnson, Nineteenth Infantry; Second Lieut. William 
M. Crviikshank, First Artillery; Second Lieut. John H. Rice, 
Third Cavaliy; Second Lieut. George Blakel3% Second Artillery; 
Second Lieut. Jay E. Hoffer, Third Artillery; Second Lieut. D. M. 
King, Fourth Artillery, Instructors. 

Department of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology. — (Col.) 
Samuel E. Tillman, Professor (21st December, 1880). First Lieut. 
R. P. Davis, Second Artillery, Assistant Professor. First Lieut. 
Edgar Russel, Fifth Artillery; Second Lieut. P. E. Pierce, Sixth 
Infantry; Second Lieut. William R, Smith, First Artillery, 
Instructors. 



92 TARRYTOWN TO WEST TOINT. 






Department of Civil and Military Engineering. — (Col.) Gus- 
tav J. Fiebeger, "Professor. First Lieut. Chester Harding, Corps 
of Engineers, Assistant Professor. First Lieut. Thomas H. Rees, 
Corps of Engineers; First Lieut. F. R. Shunk, Corps of Engi- 
neers, Instructors. 

Department of Tactics. — Lieut. Col. Samuel M. Mills, Captain 
Fifth Artillery, Commandant of Cadets and Instructor of Tactics 
(1st September, 1892). Capt. James Parker, Fourth Cavalry, 
Senior Instructor of Cavalry Tactics. First Lieut. Alexander B. 
Dyer, Fourth Artillery, Senior Instructor of Artillery Tactics. 
First Lieut. Granger Adams, Fifth Artillery, Assistant Instructor, 
of Tactics, Commanding Company of Cadets. First Lieut. Wilds 
P. Richardson, Eighth Infantry, Assistant Instructor of Tactics. 
First Lieut. William H. Allaire, Twenty-third Infantry, Assistant 
Instructor of Tactics, Commanding Company of Cadets. First 
Lieut. Willard A. Holbrook. Seventh Cavalry, Assistant Instructor 
of Tactics, Commanding Company of Cadets. First Lieut. 
Robert L. Howze, Sixth Cavalry, Assistant Instructor of Cavalry 
Tactics, Commanding Company of Cadets. Second Lieut. 
Matthew C. Butler, Jr., Fifth Cavalry, Assistant Instructor of j 
Cavalry Tactics, » 

Department of Modern Languages. — (Lieut. Col.) Ed. E. Wood, 
Professor (1st October, 1892). First Lieut. Peter E. Traub, First 
Cavalry; First Lieut. Marcus D. Cronin, Twenty-fifth Infantry; 
First Lieut. Charles H. Hunter, First Artillery; Second Lieut. 
Samuel C. Hazzard, First Artillery; Second Lieut. Edward B. 
Cassatt, Fourth Cavalry; Second Lieut. William R. Smedberg, 
Jr., Fourth Cavalry; Second Lieut. James M. Wilson, First 
Artillery, Instructors. 

Department of Law. — (Lieut. Col.) George B. Davis, Deputy 
Judge Advocate General, U. S. A., Professor (20th August, 1895). 
Second Lieut. Walter A. Bethel, Fourth Artillery; Second Lieut. , 
Frank G. Mauldin, Third Artillery; Second Lieut. Robertson 
Honey, Fourth Artillery, Instructors. 

Department of Practical Military Engineering. — Capt. James 
L. Lusk, Corps of Engineers, Instructor (31st March, 1893). 
First Lieut. E. Erebeth Winslow, Corps of Engineers; Second 
Lieut. Jay J. Morrow, Corps of Engineers, Assistant Instructors. 

Department of Ordnance and Oumiery. — Capt. Lawrence L. 
Bruff, Ordnance Department, Instructor (ITth August, 1891), and 
Commanding Department of Ordnance. First Lieut, John T. 
Thompson, Ordnance Department; Second Lieut. Henry D. Todd, 
Jr., Third Artillery, Assistant Instructors. - 

Sword Exercise.— HGvmdiTi J. Koehler, Master. \ 

Turning to the right, a few steps northward bring the visitor 
to The Plain — an open, level plain of some forty acres. The street 



J 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 93 

keeps on straight across to the hotel. On the right of the street 
is a dusty expanse, where field-pieces are packed under canvas 
covers, and where the mounted drills of cavalry troops and the 
light-battery take place. At the left is a beautiful lawn — the 
campus of the Academy aud imrade of the Post. Here the in- 
fantry battalion drills and dress-parades take place; and it is 
the ball-ground of the students and general play-field of the chil- 
dren. 

L.et MS turn to tJie right — toward the river— and walk around 
the plain. 

The Chapel is the modest stone building, with a Greek 
portico, which is immediately on the corner at the right. 

This chapel was built in 1836, and the Reformed Episcopal form 
of worship is conducted there by the Post chaplain. It is small and 
old-fashioned, but elegant, and peculiarly adorned, not only by 
the crimson silk hangings about the pulpit, but by a vigorous 
wall painting, occupying the arch of the roof above it, from the 
brush of Prof. Robert W. Weir, for many years teacher of draw- 
ing at the Academy, and father of John W. Weir, professor of 
painting at Yale. The most interesting objects in this chapel, 
however, are the cases of captured flags. Those upon the west 
wall are the British colors surrendered by Cornwallis at Yorktown, 
in 1781. They were given, by Act of Congress, to Washington, 
who left them to G. Washington Parke Custisof Arlington, who, 
in 1858, presented them to the Government, which sent them 
here for preservation. 

The opposite case is filled with 3fexican flags, trophies of the 
Mexican War, in which the graduates of West Point had the first 
opportunity to distinguish themselves; and where they proved, in 
the most satisfactory manner, the great advantage to the country 
of such a school of soldiery. 

The tablets on the wall commemorate the names of prominent 
American officers; those on the west wall are all the generals of ■ 
the Revolution, except one; and the blank is to be filled — in 
silence — by the name of Arnold. Those on the cast wall are offi- 
cers of the Mexican War. The remaining space has but a single 
occupant — the tablet to Lieut. Casey, who was killed in the Sioux 
war of 1891, and who had been an instructor and exceedingly 
popular comrade at West Point. Admission to the chapel, when 
not open, may be gained by application to the adjutant of the 
Post in the Administration Building. 

The Library is the building next beyond, at the southeast 
corner of the plain — a building of dark stone, in the Eliza- 



94 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

bethau style, erected in 1840. It is crowned by a dome in -which 
the astronomical instruments were formerly placed. The tunnel- 
ing of the Point by the West Shore Railroad Company, and the 
consequent jar of its trains, made this building untenable for 
instruments of precision; and in compensation for its privileges 
the company paid for the erection of the new observatory. The 
library now contains about 39,000 volumes, mainly devoted to 
military science and history, but including many general books. 

Turning 7iorthwa?'d, upon leaving the library, the visitor will 
walk along the eastern side of the plain, where is now rising the 
Cullum Memoriid Hall, a legacy from Maj.-Gen. G. TV. Cullum. 
It will be of stone, in Neo-Greek style, will contain a spacious 
auditorium, an assembly room for the alumni, and many bed- 
rooms, and will form a hall for social occasions and a sort of club 
for visiting officers. Beyond this building is the camp-ground 
of the cadets, where they live in tents, with all the routine of a 
field campaign, from graduation day in June until September. 
The black railings are set there as a more convenient and secure 
method of tying the tent-ropes than pegs afford. Beyond this 
shady camp-ground the rambler finds himself confronted by the 
grassy parapet of 

Fort Clinton. — A stairway at the nearest corner leads to its 
top, but, before ascending, the visitor will do well to walk a 
little wa}' along the carriage road, and observe the old masonry 
of the wall on that front, which is a part of the ancient structure. 
The present fortification, a simple form of earthwork, more or 
less star-shaped, without cannon, and covering, perhaps, two acres 
of ground, is a restoration, made in 1857, of the revolutionary 
fortress, and is not only a historical monument, but an object 
lesson in the science of field fortification. Within its interior, les- 
sons are given in the construction of such structures, and in 
the making of gabions, fascines, abatis, chevaux de-frise, and 
other elements entering into defenses of this miture. The fort is 
chiefly interesting, however, as a reminder of the historv of "West 
Point, which is purely military. To sift correctly from the mass 
of revolutionary record aud tradition Avhicli belongs to this 
small, though momentous, spot, would require more judgment 
and labor than most of us have at command; those interested, 
therefore, owe a debt of gratitude to Capt. Boynton for his com- 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 95 

prehensive History of West Point, the whole scene of which is 
under the reader's eye as he strolls along this grassy parapet. 

Historical Sketch.— This whole neighborhood was part of 
an early grant to aa English gentleman, John Evans, who, curi- 
ously enough, was a captain in the Royal Artillery; but his pat- 
ent was vacated in 1669, and the lands then passed into the bauds 
of several proprietors. No one seems to have actually settled 
here in pre-revolutionary times, however, the rocky character of 
the place inviting only the camping hunter and wood-cutter. 
When the war for independence broke out, the defense of the 
Highlands attracted the first attention, as has been pointed out; 
and a scheme of fortifications for Constitution Island — the rocky 
eminence opposite West Point, northward, which is separated 
from the mainhmd by a space of marshes — was begun {is early as 
the autumn of 1775, but was soon abandoned. A congressional 
committee found, among other faults, that the site wns overlooked 
by the ' ' West Point," and recommended that that elevated ground 
be made use of as the site of a strong fortification. This was the 
first official suggestion to that effect. Xevertheless, additional 
redoubts were built and many guns mounted on the island, until 
good judges declared the whole affair useless. The principal 
redoubt was Fort Constitution, from which tlie island derives its 
present name, and which was destroyed by the enemy when they 
passed up the river in 1777. 

The British success of that year taught the Americans that 
they had put their earlier chain in the wrong place, at Fort Mont- 
gomery, and that the proper place to stretch it was from Gee's, or 
Stony Point — the extreme rocky projection of the West Point 
headland — to the rocky shore of Constitution Island. This was 
not only 300 feet shorter in distance than the width at Fort Mont- 
gomer}', but here sail-vessels iiscending the river lost their head 
way to a great extent in rounding the sharp turn in the river, and 
by reason of the baflling winds of this tortuous gorge, so that 
they v.'ould strike the obstruction with diminished force. Accord- 
ingly another chain was prepared and put into position in April, 
1778. It was defended by a battery of guns at each end, and 
that upon the West Point side is still visible, and is called the 
CJinin Battery. 

Meanwhile, the fortification of "the West Point" had been 
busily prosecuted during the preceding winter (1777-78), in spite 
of the extraordinary severity of that famous season and the depth 
of the snow. Parsons' brigade furnished the workmen, and the 
engineer was a French oflicer, Lieut. -Col. Radiere. His plans 
were not approved, however, and he was superseded by Kos- 
ciusko, the Pole — afterward to become a name for the oppressed 
to conjure by — under whose direction the work went steadily for- 
ward. The principal fort was this one at the northeastern corner 
of the plateau, with a water-battery at the end of the chain, and 



96 TAKRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

anollier on the cliff face, the present Battery Knox; but, as the 
whole situation was exposed to the fire of any guns planted 
upon the eminences that ruse from the plain on the land- 
ward side, it was imperative that these summits should be 
included in the general plan. To the most commanding of them, 
Col, Rufus Putnam was sent with his regiment, and they toiled 
all winter in the forest, and frost and snow, throwing up as strong 
a redoubt as could be made of logs and stones and a little earth. 
Works somewhat less pretentious surmounted other hilltops. 
Between Fort Putnam and the river was Fort Webb, now the site 
of the new observatory; and another, Foi^t Wyllis, covered a rocky 
knoll a quarter of a mile farther south, at the extremity of the same 
ridge. A fourth was erected upon the round knob some distance 
north of Fort Putnam. All of these, however, were regarded as 
outworks defending the approaches to the main citadel here on 
the plain, which was sufficiently advanced by June of 1778 to 
receive its garrison and its name — Fort Arnold. This name, 
according to Boynton, was continued until Arnold's defection, 
when its title was changed to Fort Clinton, which it has since 
retained. About 1,000 troops occupied West Point during the 
winter of 1778-79, and the remninder of the northern army was 
not far away — a part of it just across the river, where strong 
breastworks were constructed upon Redoubt Hill and Sugar Loaf, 
in addition to batteries along the south side of Constitution 
Island. Washington himself resided here from July 25 to No- 
vember 28, 1779. ^ 

The impregnability of these works was soon ascertained by 
the British, and after the failure of Arnold's treachery. West 
Point was never even threatened with an assault. Vigilance was 
not relaxed, however. The forts, and Putnam in particular, 
were made stronger and stronger, well garrisoned, and filled with 
war stores of every kind. Their admirable condition is testified 
to by the Marquis de Chastellu, who inspected them in Novem- 
ber, 1780. " These magazines," he exclaims, "completely filled, 
the numerous artillery one sees in these different fortresses, the 
prodigious labor necessary to transport and pile up on steep rocks 
huge trunks of trees and enormous hewn stones, impress the 
mind with an idea of the Americans very different from that 
which the English ministry have endeavored tj give to Parlia- 
ment." 

After the war, West Point was made the repository of the war 
material remaining, much of which was sold; and the redoubts 
were not dismantled of their guns until 1787. They were then 
allowed to fall in'o ruin, and the curious may now find them 
overgrown with trees. In 1805, Fort Putnam was partly demol- 
ished, and rebuilt of stone, after a somewhat larger design, but 
was speedily allowed to sink into the present condition of decay. 
Fort Clinton was itself restored in 1857. The presence of these 
fortresses and their stores determined the stationing here of the 



TARKYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 97 

corps of engineers and artillerists and their cadets, and explains the 
present location of the Military Academy — an aptness of historical 
foundation which does not often occur. 

The Cliffs, hcloio Fort Clinton^ are a part of "the Point" dear 
to the hearts of habitues. "Love at the first sight," we read, "is 
epidemic at "West Point in June and July," and nowhere is the 
insidious malady more infectious than along these crags that look 
out upon the shining river. " Tender-hearted damsels, fresh from 
the boarding-school, and ardent cadets, whose sober-gray uniform 
is completely opposite to the warmth of their feelings, wander 
through the shady lanes, plighting everlasting troth, and quite 
forgetful of the awful fact that a cruel fate may impend in papa 
and mamma. There are romantic nooks, arbors, grottoes, and 
quiet lanes, overarched with intertwining foliage — all that a lover 
could desire." 

It is asking too much, perhaps, that the casual visitor of 
uncertain age, and in broad daylight, should find Flirtation Walk, 
Kosciusko's Garden, with its arched spring and marble fountain- 
bowl, and the other nooks and corners, as entertaining as do the 
fledgling lieutenants and those sweetest of summer girls; but they 
are delightful paths in which to stroll and smoke a post-prandial 
cigar, all the same. A sad note is felt in one's meditations as he 
encounters a plain marble shaft — around which an eagle is twin- 
ing a laurel wreath — and reads the name Dade inscribed upon 
its plintli. " It commemorates the bravery of a detachment of 
United States troops, under Maj. Francis L. Dade, in a battle 
with the Seminole Indians in Florida, when 105 men out of 108 
in the command were slaughtered." 

A little farther on is Battery Knox — a revolutionary relic 
kept in modern repair, and with the guns mounted, whose muzzles 
command the river channel. But these great guns are rarely, if 
ever, fired. Continuing the walk, you may scramble down to the 
old Chain Battery on Gee's Point, or — since that is scarcely worth 
while — may ascend to the carriage road at the northeast angle of 
Fort Clinton, where the parapet is crowned with the Statue to 
Kosciusko. 

Thaddeus Kosciusko was born in Lithuania in 1746. He exhib- 
ited remarkable ability as a military student, and became a captain 
of artillery, but on account of an unfortunate attachment lo the 
daughter of a nobleman, in 1777, he went to Paris, and then to 



98 TARRYTOWl? To WEST fOlNT, 



1 



America with the French fleet. Washington gladly accepted his 
aid, and he disj^layed such intrepidity and skill that he rose to be 
a brigadier-general; and liis scienlitic knowledge was utilized in 
the construction of this very fortress, which now bears the 
memorial sliaft raised to his memory, in 1828, by the cadets, at a 
cost of $5,000. In 1786, lie returned to Europe; and in 1789 was 
made a major-general of the Polish army. In the war with Rus- 
sia which followed, he acted with remarkable, but unavailing, 
pkill and valor; and when, in 1793, a part of Poland revolted, 
Kosciusko became leader, and but for the interposition of Prussia 
would have freed Poland from the Russian yoke. The result was 
defeat for the country and wounds and imprisonment for himself. 
After two years, however, he regained his freedom, and again 
visited England and America, after which he remained a promi- 
nent figure in European politics until his death in Switzerland in 
1817. The whole world has united in esteem and admiration of 
him, not only as a soldier, but as a chivalrous patriot. 

Continuing the walk along the north front, and past the Sally- 
port of Fort Clinton, the visitor reaches the Hotel, from whose 
balconies a magnificent view up the river is gained. 

The West Point Hotel dates from 1829, and long ago became 
antiquated. It is leased by the Government at so high a rental 
that the proprietor feels obliged to charge $8.50 a day, but at 
graduation time the old house is crowded almost to suffocation. 

Along the nortJi side of the plain, many interesting objects 
claim attention, not to mention the charming river views this ele- 
vated outlook affords. The first pause after leaving the hotel 
must be at the 

Battle Monument. — This has been erected — from a fund 
subscribed since 1863, with its increment of interest, amounting 
to about $50, 000 — in memory of the officers and enlisted men of 
the regular army who were killed or died of wounds received in 
action during the War of the Rebellion. 

The designers are McKim, Mead & White of New York, 
who have produced a monolith of polished granite, 41 feet in 
height and 5 feet 8 inches in diameter, resting upon a circular 
base, and surrounded by flights of steps. Surmounting this is a 
heroic winged figure of Victory — modeled in bronze by McMonies 
— whose feet are perched upon a gl()])e. While this noble monu- 
ment, whose total height is 78 feet, is placed with special refer- 
ence to its aspect from the plain, its magnificent site will make it 
visible from a long way up the river. 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 99 

A curious round depression in the edge of the campus, which 
has been felicitously described as "the dimple in the face of the 
plain," will attract attention just here, and perhaps you will 
linger a moment to watch the playing in the tennis-courts that 
occupy it; but in the days of the revolutionary garrison it was 
Execution or Gallows Hollow, and no guide-book is needed to tell 
why. The gun upon its brink is that by which the flag is saluted 
when, at sunset, the band, or drum corps, plays "down the 
colors," and evening parade is dismissed. Just beyond, in a 
grove of fine trees, and with a grand outlook up the Hudson — 
past Cro' Nest and Storm King on the left, and the Beacons on 
the right — is 

Trophy Point (once Fort Sherbourne), crowded with 
cannons and mortars captured in Mexico. Each bears an 
engraved legend. In the center of the array, suppoited upon 
iron posts, and inclosing some guns captured from the British in 
the Revolution, is a section of the great Chain which was 
stretched across the river here in 1778. In front of this chain 
was a heavy boom of logs, a description and pictures of which 
may be found in Ruttenber's Obstructions of the Hudson River. 

This chain was forged at the Stirling Iron Works in Orange 
County, hauled piece by piece to New Windsor, and put together 
at the military smithy of Capt. Machin. It was then floated 
down as a whole, and placed in position without delay or break- 
age. Each winter the chain and boom were unmoored, taken up 
to the beach, in the cove now crossed by the railroad tracks, 
and piled up out of reach of the moving ice until ready to be 
replaced in the spring, Boynton gives the following particulars; 

"The chain and boom were fastened, when in position, to 
cribbage blocks, the remains of which are yet " [1863] "visible in 
the little cove, just above the boat-house, on Constitution Island, 
and directly across from the 'Chain Battery,' yet in existence, 
and near which the south end was secured. Sixteen links of the 
chain yet remain united, at West Point, including a swivel and 
clevis. Two of the largest links weigh, respectively, 130 and 
129 pounds, while the medium weight is 114 pounds. The whole 
chain is said to have weighed 186 tons. In removing the boom 
finally, a portion of it became detached, and the logs, being 
water-soaked, sank to the bottom of the river, where, after being 
washed by the tide for eighty years, they have been, in part, 
recovered." * 

* These portions are preserved at The Headquarters, Newburgh. 



100 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. '9^ 

Just Lelow Trophy Point is the Seacoast Battery, whose 
guns point up the river. The name comes from the "Seacoast" > 
guns with which the battery was first armed, and with which the 
cadets practiced in firing at the target visible, upon the face of 
Cro' Is est. But these old-fashioned cannon have been replaced by 
rifles of large caliber, mounted upon modern carriages. A bat- 
tery has occupied this commanding site since the Revolution; and 
below it is another, the Water Battery. 

The buildings surrounded by a castellated wall, on the western { 
side of Trophy Point, form the Ordnance and Artillery Laboratoi^y, 
and were built in 1840, when artillery and cavalry drill were first 
added to the military curriculum of the Academy. They are 
used for making and storing ammunition, and for instruction in I 
the fabrication of arms and projectiles, and are not open to the ■ 
public. Beyond are seen the gas-works, the coal-hoisting appa- 
ratus, the excellent public restaurant, and the wide flats which 
have been recently filled in. All this low-lying part of the 
reservation, which reaches northward to the base of the hills, is 
styled Camptown — not because a camp is, or ever was, there, but 
after the name of an early settler on that slope. Along the 
higher ground beyond stand various laboratories, storehouses, 
soldiers' barracks, and the residences of the families of enlisted 
men, laundresses, etc., extending to the Cemetery. 

Resuming his walk, the visitor comes speedily to the rtorthwest 
corner of the plain, and stops to admire Launt Thompson's 
vigorous Statue of Sedgwick — a bronze presentment of the 
commander of the renowned Sixth Corps of the Army of the 
Potomac, erected by that corps "in loving admiration." It is a 
noble figure, with the steadfastness of the man's character and 
the excitement of battle in its pose. 

An obelisk to the memory of Lieut. -Col. E. W. Wood, who was 
killed at Fort Erie, in Canada, in 1814, formerly stood near here, 
but was moved to the cemetery in 1885. 

Officers' Row has now been reached— a line of comfortable, 
plain residences, built, for the most part, more than fifty years 
ago, in which many tenants whose names are bright on the rolls 
of the American army have succeeded one another. The house 
near this corner, having somewhat larger grounds, and dis- 
tinguished by the super solemn and extra-elegant sentry pacing 
before the gate, is that of the commandant of the Post. These 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT, 101 

residences continue northward for some distance around the 
curve in the road, which will take you directly to the gates of 
the 

Post Cemetery, half a mile distant. If you have an hour 
to spare, this cemetery is well worth a visit. Among its many 
monuments, the most notable is that erected by the cadets to their 
comrade, Vincent M. Lowe, who was killed by the premature 
discharge of a cannon in 1817. It is known as the Cadets' Monu- 
ment, bears the names of several other officers more lately 
inscribed upon it, and overshadows the grave of Miss Susan 
"Warner, the novelist. To no one, however, can this lovely 
"bivouac of the slain" appeal with the sensation that it does to 
an old resident. The latest addition is the monument to Keyes. 

"West Point," exclaims Prof. Bailey, in his Reminiscences, 
" is the saddest place in the world. When I go back, I feel like 
Rip Van Winkle after his sleep in those mystic mountains dimly 
seen up the river. Here is the old routine of long years ago; pre- 
cisely the same calls, the same parades, and in precisely the same 
places; but the actors, where are they? Go out to the cemetery 
yonder; that peaceful, silent spot, so pathetic with the names of 
the dead. . . . Where is there a spot more sacred? Here lies 
the trusty Anderson, with the simple record: 'Fort Sumter, 
1861.' Brave officer, simple-hearted gentleman, all honor to his 
memory! Near by is the tomb of the great commander, Gen. 
Winfield Scott. . . . Here is buried Quincy A. Gillmore — his 
grave, this last summer, still covered with the memorial flowers 
of the Grand Army. The dasbing Custer lies here; Buford, the 
true and brave; Alonzo H. Gushing, ' faithful unto death at Gettys- 
burg'; Gen. CuvierGrover; Sykes, that glorious hero of a hundred 
battles — his monument is 'erected by loviug comrades.' These, 
and many more no less worthy, here ' sleep their last sleep ' 1 In this 
final repose there is no distinction of rank. We note the names 
of many enlisted men, true in their station, as I am proud to say 
those regulars always were. Old Twiggs could play the traitor 
himself, but not a man did he tempt over with him." 

In front of the officers' quarters, a line of iron benches extends 
along the east side of the campus, beneath noble elms. This is 
the proper place to watch the infantry drills, and to see the dress- 
parades, which, on gala days, are formed facing this row. Pass- 
ing along it, the visitor sees before him, on the south side of the 
plain, the Thayer Monument, the new Gymnasium, the great Cadet 
Barracks, and the new Academy Building. 



103 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 



II 



The Monument to Col. Thayer, "Father of the Academy," 
whose early influence has been described, is a granite figure, 
draped in a military cloak, which merits the admiration it 
receives, and is finely placed amid the trees. 

The Gymnasium is an imposing double-towered structure of 
stone, after designs by R. M. Hunt, first occupied in 1893. It 
stands upon ground formerly occupied by a dwelling-house, some 
of whose early occupants were Gens. Keyes, McDowell, and 
McClellan. It is equipped with the best of apparatus, and the 
gymnastic training here given, including fencing, sword-play, 
and swimming, is regarded as a most important jDart of cadet 
training, especially in the earlier years of the course. Dancing is 
also taught systematically. The building behind it is the Cadet 
Quartermaster Store. 

The great quadrangular, castellated, Tudoresque structure of 
the Cadet Barracks comes next. It was completed in 1849, and 
is 360 X 60 feet in dimensions, with a wing 100 x 60 feet. The 
four stories hold 176 rooms, 136 of which are cadet quarters. 
Every one is prohibited from entering the building during study 
hours, and it contains little, if anything, to interest the casual 
visitor. 

The corps of cadets may include 371, but rarely exceeds 300. 
They present themselves for examination in June, and if passed 
and admitted are quartered in the barracks, and undergo prelim- 
inary "setting-up" exercises and drills while the upper three 
classes are in camp. At the end of summer, they are assigned 
rooms and places in the battalion, and constitute the fourth class. 
" Two persons are assigned to each room, and the entire furniture 
consists of two iron bedsteads, chairs, lables, and a few other nec- 
essary articles. The cadet is not allowed to have a waiter, a 
horse, or dog, but is required to make his own bed and keep his 
quarters tidy. He is aroused at 6 o'clock in the morning by the 
drums. At twenty minutes past 6 his room nuist be in order, 
bedding folded, and wash bowl inverted. AYoe betide him if he 
be dilatory! He is visited by a superior, who reports his delin- 
quency, or, as he M^ould more vividly say, 'skins' him. At half- 
past 6 he goes to breakfast, returning shortly before 7; then an 
hour for recreation, and then five hours for recitations, class 
parades, and other duties. The time between noon and 2 p. M. 
is allowed for dinner and recreation. Academic work is over at 
4 o'clock, and the rest of the day is occupied by drills, amuse- 
ments, and dress-parade. Lights are extinguished in quarters at 
10, and the embryo soldier is supposed to go to sleep." 



I 



I 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 103 

It is to be feared that he does not always do so. Stories of 
stealthy midnight expeditions intent on the "hazing" of some 
unfortunate youngster, or to enjoy that mysterious edible com- 
pound, mixed in a wash-basin, known as " cadet hash," form a 
part of all the traditions of the Poiut. But these offenses against 
discipline are less frequent than formerly. The young men now- 
adays seem more enlightened and steadier, and even the wildest 
spirits appreciate thoroughly their privileges and responsibilities. 
A better sentiment has grown up as to hazing, "which is nearly 
extinct. The " reduction of a plebe to his proper level of abso- 
lute insignificance " is biought about soon enough in the course 
of drill. The restriction of the cadet to "limits," which by no 
means include the whole of the reservation, and his total lack of 
money, are other powerful obstacles to forbidden pleasures and 
contraband indulgence of the appetite. He is paid $45 a month, 
but never handles a penny of it, all being spent for him by the 
quartermaster and commissary officers; and he is permitted to 
receive no money whatever, from home or anywhere else. He 
even has no pockets in his trousers! Moreover, the cadet is 
watched by some sort of superior every moment. He awakes, 
and dresses, and goes to meals; eats and drinks, and marches 
back again; studies and recites; says his prayers, goes to bed, and 
attunes his dreams to the word of command, the notes of the 
bugle, and the tap of the drum. There is scarcely a moment 
when he is not under eye and liable to correction of deportment 
by some one who has the power to enforce his hint, or punish the 
slightest sign of revolt; yet it is all done in so rulable and kindly 
a way, and is so much a part of the very air they breathe, that a 
jollier lot of fellows can not be found at any institution in the 
United States. 

The Academic Building, first occupied in 1895, is from the 
designs of Richard M. Hunt, and will be finished by the erection 
of an imposing clock-tower at the northeast corner. It replaces 
the fine old structure erected in 1838. It is used wholly for 
instruction, containing recitation rooms, laboratories, drawing- 
rooms and other apartments required in the actual college work 
of the institution. It is not open to visitors, though an officer is 
permitted to show the ordnance museum, etc., to any one especially 
interested in such matters. 

The circuit of the plain has now been completed, and but one 
thing remains to be done by the conscientious tourist — the visit to 

Old Fort Putnam. This ruined fortification, the history of 
which has already been given, crowns the summit of Mount 
Independence, 495 feet above the river. It is reached by a wind- 
ing carriage road, which leaves the main street between the Aca- 



104 TARRYTOWN TO WEST POINT. 

domic Building and Grant Hall, and overlooks the plain, as it 
ascends, until hidden in the woods of the rocky hillside. Half- 
way up, the road crosses the upland road to Highland Falls; and 
at that point another road leads off to the left and ascends to the 
new ObHc'rvatoi'i/, which stands upon the site of old Fort Webb, 
and is furnished with a 12-inch telescope and other high-class 
instruments for astronomical work. Continuing, certain short 
cuts may be taken advantage of by pedestrians, and Fort Putnam 
is finally reached and entered at the old sally-port. 

No explanation is required here. One may wander about the 
ruinous ramparts, peer into the broken casemates, and speculate 
upon the difficulty of capturing by assault this castle, whose walls 
are perched upon the very brink of cliffs. It must be remem- 
bered that its purpose was to defend the garrison of the Point 
from a landicard attack, and not to guard the river, though 
doubtless some of its guns would have shelled passing vessels 
very effectively. The view here is said to extend along fifteen 
miles of the river; but it is more commendable for its pictur- 
esque variety than for its breadth, combining in a most winning 
manner a savagery of nature that has resisted cultivation through 
two centuries with the perfection of civilization of art ujDon and 
along the beautiful river, which here, as everywhere else, is the 
lodestone that irresistibly attracts back to itself the wandering 
gaze. 

The distance to Fort Putnam is not less than half-a-mile, and 
the climb is rather steep, so that not less than an hour should be 
given to this excursion. 

The road to Cranston's leads along the edge of the bluff, 
past the Hospital, the residences of officers, and the old Kinsley 
estate. The last has now been bought by the Grovernment, 
extending the Military Reservation almost to Cranston's Hotel. 
There is no interest for the casual sightseer in that direction, 
beyond the view of the river; but the first of all local traditions 
lies somewhere down at that end of the present reservation— the 
shrine of the tutelar saint of West Point, Benni/ Havens. 

"Benny Havens," declares Prof . Bailey, "among army men, is 
a name to conjure by, for even those who never frequented his 
house, or toasted Gens. Brady or Worth or Scott beneath its 
roof, or sang Petite Coquille in memory of O'Brien, know by 
tradition of that old haunt and its well-bred keeper. Benny 
must have been much above the ordinary run of contraband 
dealers, or barkeepers, to have inspired such esteem in the hearts 
of our bravest and best, AH the old fellows, after graduation, 



TARRYTOWN TO WEST TOINT. 105 

and sometimes after fame had come to them, would find their 
way back to that secluded spot. What a ring and joy there is to 
those old verses ! How they survive the shocks of time ! How 
we rise to our feet and shout to hear them, as the Frenchman 
does to his Marsellaise ! 

"To our regiments now, fellows, we aU must shortly go, 
And look as sage as parsons when they tell of whafs below 1 
We must cultivate the graces, do everything 'just so,' 
And never talk to ears polite of Benny Havens, O ! " 



9 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 

Rounding West Point, the steamer turns sharply to the left, 
bringing into view the two great mountains of the Highlands — 
Ord Nest and Storm King, on the west side of the river, with 
Breakneck, Bull Hill, and The Beacons continuing the range north- 
eastward. The rocky eastern shore immediately upon the right, . 
however, is Constitution Island, and across this narrow and bent | 
strait in the river was stretched the cJiain that has been described. 
The guarding redoubts may still be seen at each end of its posi- 
tion. 

Little of the military post is visible from the water level. Some 
dwelling-houses along the south bluff, the headquarteis' offices, 
and the battlemented walls of the new Academy Building; the 
riding halls and stables on the bluff; the hotel on the point; 
glimpses of a monument or two, and some foliage-hidden batteries, 
with a view of the laboratories and soldiers' quarters of ' ' Camp- . 
town," north of the parade; and, finally, the white monuments of I 
the cemetery, serve only to give the traveler who passes in a 
steamer an idea of the attractive as w^ell as strategic situation of 
this famous post in the Highlands. The passenger on the Hud- 
son River Railroad cars sees a few more roofs than are visible i 
from the steamer ; but he who travels by the West Shore Rail- 
road s<3es very little. It runs along the base of the south bluff J 
and then passes beneath the parade through a long, curving, 
smoky tunnel ; and its construction here, as often elsewhere, has 
sadly marred the beauty of the banks. 

Constitution Island is a mass of rocks, inclosing consider- 
able arable land, and separated from the mainland by marshes 
over which the railw^ay now passes upon a causeway. It was 
anciently known as Marteler's Rock, after a Frenchman named 
Martelaire, who lived there about 1720.* The change of name and 
the revolutionary history of the island have been recounted; 
and nothing would remain to say of interest, were it not that for 

*So says Boyuton, but other explanations of equal authenticity have been 
given. 

(106) 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH 107 

many years this secluded place was the home of that Warner 
family, all of whom were literary, and one, Miss Susan B. Warner, 
attained to fame, thirty years ago, by the novel, Tlie Wide, Wide 
World. It was long and " slow," but, in defiance of critics and 
canons, attained a popularity never reached by any other book by 
an American w^oman (or man, perhaps), except Uiicle Tom's Cabin, 
over 250,000 copies having been sold. It was published in 1857, 
and followed by Queecliy, Say and Seal, and many other stories 
and religious books, which had a varied success. Miss Warner 
died in 1885, and is buried, as she washed to be, near the Cadets' 
Monument at West Point. The house is on the southern shore 
of the island, and is still occupied, but is so ensconced by trees as 
to be nearly invisible. Miss Warner's sister Anna was also a 
novelist, and in the hills behind the island formerly lived another 
talented spinster — Clara Louise Kellogg. 

Beyond Constitution Island, a deep cove penetrates the eastern 
shore. Into it flows a brook, at the mouth of which is the once 
famous, and still prosperous. West Point Foundry, while just 
beyond it the valley is filled with the cheerful village of Cold 
Spring. 

Cold Spring is an old and inviting, but not very progressive, 
little town, which takes its name from a powerful spring near the 
railroad station, and its reputation from its great foundries, whose 
flaming chimneys often cast brilliant reflections, at night, far out 
upon the river, giving a startling appearance to the dark crags thus 
lit up. 

"Night ill the Highlands, indeed, is scarcely less lovely than 
the day. The river breaks with faintest murmur on the precip- 
itous shore; the walls of the mountains are an impenetrable 
blackness, against which the starry path overhead looks the more 
lustrous. Trembling echoes strike the hillsides plaintively, as a 
great steamer cleaves her way up the stream, or a towboat, with 
a string of canalboats in her wake, struggles against the tide, 
while fleets of sailing-vessels drift past." 

In 1828, Gouverneur Kemble brought here, from New York, 
the plant of an iron foundry, to which he gave the name " West 
Point." Later, his relatives, the Fauldings, came in, one of whom 
was that literary J. K. Paulding whose home will be seen at 
Ilyde Park. Then Major Parrott, artillery officer, also connected 
by marriage, was introduced to the firm; and he gave the AYest 
Point foundry a world-wide reputation by the invention and 
manufacture, just before the Civil War, of the Parrott gun, the 



108 WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 

principle of which was the strengthening of the breech by shrink- 
ing upon it a broad tire of forged steel. Here, during the war, 
were cast cannons, shot, and shell, to the exclusion of almost 
everything else ; but since then the casting of machinery has 
chiefly employed the 200 to 300 men constantly at work. 

The village stretches mainly along a single street, reaching for 
half-a-mile up the glen ; and it has one of the finest Episcopal 
churches in the whole Hudson Valley — a Gothic structure of gray 
stone, with a lofty spire, which cost half a million, and was the 
gift of a single parishioner. The population is about twenty-five 
hundred, and there is a comfortable hotel upon the dock, where 
minor steamers call. 

The bold eminence just north of Cold Spring is Bull Hill, 
lately modernized into the more elegant Mount Taurus. It i 
is the continuation of Cro' Nest, is over 1,500 feet high, and 
extends backward, jDarallel with the South Beacon. At "Under- 1 
cliffc," in front of this hill, lived Col. George P. Morris, editor, 
fifty years ago, of The New York Mirror; but more widely remem- 
bered as the author of WoodTrmriy Spare that Tree, and several 
other songs that touched the popular heart. It was one of the 
most spacious and elegant places of its day, and was built by 
John C. Hamilton, one of the sons of Alexander Hamilton. Its 
elevated position commands not only one of the most interesting 
river pictures in the Highlands, but overlooks the parade at West 
Point, so that the evolutions of tlie cadets at drill can easily be 
discerned from the piazza. F. B. James has a house near the 
river, just here; a little farther on live D. Heusted and E. A. 
Perkins, in the rear of the rocky cape called Little Stony Point; 
and just beyond Bull Hill, where a road zigzags down between 
it and the naked, purple cliffs of Breakneck, is Storm King Sta- 
tion, on the Hudson River Railroad, forming, in summer, the sta- 
tion, by ferry, for Cornwall. 

Cro' Nest and Storm King. — All this time the massive, 
rounded crags of Crow Nest and Storm King mountains over- 
shadow the river on the left, not leaving room even for the West 
Shore Railroad, which has partly hacked out a pathway along 
their bases. 

The former, now usually written Cro' Nest, is an ancient name, 
probably borrowed from the red men, and simply notes the 



WEST POINT TO NEWBUEGH. 109 

abundance of crows on that eminence, as Eagle Valley^ between 
Cro' Nest and Storm King, was noted as a breeding-place of 
eagles— a bird once extremely abundant all along the Hudson, 
and still often seen. The name Cro' Nest is applied to the whole 
massive ridge fronting the river for two miles or more, and 
attaining a height at one point of 1,416 feet. 

"Here, as elsewhere in the neighborhood, crack-brained spec- 
ulators have searched for Capt. Kidd's buried treasure, and the 
river front of the Cro' Nest is called Kidd's Plug Cliff, on the sup- 
position that a mass of projecting rock, on the face of the preci- 
pice, formed a plug to the orifice where the pirate's gold was 
hidden." 

THE CULPRIT FAY. 

Cro' Nest is linked in English literature with Joseph Rodman 
Drake's fairy story in verse, The Culprit Fay. It was written.in 
a spirit of bravado, when the author was only twenty-one years 
old, to sustain his contention that it was just as possible to place 
the scene of a romance among the unstoried American hills as 
among those of Europe, where every pinnacle, slope, and valley 
was a memento of suggestive deeds. This discussion happened 
during a memorable walk through the Highlands, in 1816, of a 
party in which were Drake, Washington Irving, Fitz-Greene 
Halleck, and J. Fenimore Cooper; and, to confute his elders, the 
audacious young poet wrote, in three days, one of the most 
charming poems in the English language. Drake, who became a 
physician, and lived only until 1820, published some other good 
things, notably the poem to the American flag, beginning: 

When Freedom, from her mountain height, 
Unfurled her banner to the skies ; 

but The Culprit Fay is that by which he is, and will long be, 
remembered, "It was a sudden and brilliant flash of a highly 
poetical mind, which was extinguished before its powers were 
fully expanded." Its action and sentiment have been admirably 
sketched in the following language: 

"The story is of simple construction: The fairies who live 
on Cro' Nest are called together at midnight to sit in judgment on 
one of their number who has broken his vow. He is sentenced to 
perform a most difficult task, and evil spirits of air and water 
oppose him in his mission of penance. He is sadly baffled and 



110 WEST POINT TO NEWBUKGH. 

tempted, but at lengtli conquers all difficulties, and his triumph- 
ant return is hailed with dance and song. 

" These Cro' Nest fairies are a dainty and luxurious race. 
Their lanterns are owlets' eyes. Some of them repose in cobweb 
hammocks, swung on tufted spears of grass, and rocked by 
tlie zephyrs of a midsummer night. Others have beds of lichen, 
pillowed by the breast plumes of the humming-bird. A few, 
still more luxurious, find couches in the purple shade of the four- 
o'clock, or in the little niches of rock lined with dazzling mica. 
Their tables, at which they drink dew from the buttercups, are 
velvet-like mushrooms, and the king's throne is of sassafras and 
spicewood, with tortoise-shell pillars, and crimson tulip-leaves for 
diapery. ' But the quaint shifts, and the beautiful outfit of the Cul- 
prit himself ,' says a writer on Drake, ' comprise the most delectable 
imagery of ihe poem. He is worn out with fatigue and chagrin 
at the very commencement of his journey, and therefore makes 
captive a spotted toad, by way of steed. Having bridled her with 
a silk-weed twist, his progress is made, rapidly, by dint of lashing 
her sides with an osier thong. Arrived at the beach, he launches 
fearlessly upon the tide, for, among his other accomplishments, 
the Fay is a graceful swimmer; but his tender limbs are so 
bruised by leeches, star fishes, and other watery enemies that he 
is soon driven back. 

" 'The cobweb lint and balsam dew of sorrel and henbane 
speedily relieve the little penitent's wounds, and, having refreshed 
himself with the juice of the calamus-root, he returns to the 
shore, and selects a neatly-shaped mussel-shell, brilliantly painted 
without, and tinged with a pearl within. Nature seemed to have 
formed it expressly for a fairy -boat. Having notched the stern, 
and gathered a colen bell to bail with, he sculls into the middle 
of the river, laughing at his old foes as they grin and chatter 
around his way. There, in the sweet moonlight, he sits until a 
sturgeon comes by, and leaps, all glistening, into the silvery 
atmosphere; then, balancing his delicate frame upon one foot, 
like a Lilliputian jMercury, lie lifts the flowery cup and catches 
the one sparkling drop that is to M-ash the stain from his wing. 

" ' Gay is his return voyage. Sweet nymphs clasp the boat's 
side with their tiny hands, and cheerily urge it onward. 

" ' His next enterprise is of a more knightly species, and he 
proceeds to array himself accordingly, as becomes a fairy cavalier. 
His acorn helmet is plumed with thistle-down, a bee's nest forms 
his corselet, and his cloak is of butterfly-wings. With a Lidy- 
bug's shell for a shield, and a wasp-sting lance, spurs of cockle- 
seed, a bow made of vine twig strung with maize silk, and well 
supplied with nettle shafts, he mounts his firefly, and, waving his 
blade of blue-grass, speeds upward to catch a glimmering spark 
from some flying meteor. Again the spirits of evil are let loose 
upon him, and the upper elements are not more friendly than 
those below. A sylphid queen enchants him by her beauty and 
kindness. But though she played very archly with the butterfly- 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. Ill 

cloak, and handled the tassel of his blade while he revealed to 
her pitying ears the dangers he had passed, the memory of his 
first love and the object of his pilgrimage kept his lieart free. 
Escorted with great honor by the sylph's lovely train, his career 
is resumed, and his flame- wood lamp at length rekindled, and 
before the sentry-elf proclaims a streak in the eastern sky, the 
culprit has been welcomed to all his original glory.' " 

Next north of Cro' Nest, the rocks rise to an even greater 
height in a rounded pile which some of the early Dutchmen 
called The Klinkenherg (meaning "Echo Mount," and usually 
misspelled " Klinkerberg "), and others Butter Hill. The country 
l^eople still hold to the last name, indeed, explaining that the 
height resembles a market-roll of butter in its dome-like round- 
ness—a notion that dates back to very early times. N. P. Willis, 
however, succeeded in fastening upon it the new name Storm 
King, as a term befitting its dignity, not only, but expressive of 
the fact that it is an unfailing weather-gauge to all the country 
north of it. The highest point of Storm King is somewhat 
inland, and may easily be reached by a plain path which ascends 
from near the Mountain House, in Cornwall. Next southwest of 
this mountain is the still loftier eminence Black Bock, whose 
round poll can be seen peering over the crest of Storm King from 
the south, and stands out in plain view from the north. 

The straight space of river in front of these mountains used 
to be known to the old time sloop captains as Vorsen's Reach ; and 
to the rugged headland opposite, whose precipices arc too steep 
to bear much vegetation, was given the name Breakneck, so long 
ago that the time and the reason are both forgotten, for the modern 
yarn about some old Dutchman chasing a runaway bull over 
Mount Taurus, until it hurled itself off the crags of the next 
mountain and broke its neck, is nonsense. A century ago it was 
known as 27ie Turk's Face, owing to a remarkable image of a 
human countenance, formed by projecting rocks on the south 
side, where now a huge purplish wall of bare rock testifies to the 
ravages of stone-quarrying; but this was long ago tumbled down 
by the operations of blasting. This Turk's Face, or Breakneck 
Mountain, is the counterpart of Storm King, and the range con- 
tinues northward in a chain of summits that form the water-shed 
between the Hudson and the Croton rivers, in Dutchess County — 
which begins at this point on the river. 



112 WEST POINT TO NEWBtTRGH. 

These mountains are very rough, and quite uninhabited and 
wild. A road creeps around their base, however, and paths 
ascend to their summits, which align themselves into a very 
prominent and handsome range, as the steamer sails out of this 
" northern gate of the Highlands into the ampler breadth called 
Newburgh Bay." 

With the help of Pollopel's Island, an outlying projection 
of Breakneck — passed just here — this " northern gateway of the 
Highlands " was obstructed in 1779 by the chevaux de-frise, frag- 
ments of which may be examined in the museum at the Head- 
quarters in Newburgh. They consisted of massive iron-pointed 
pikes, about thirty feet long, secured at the bottom in cribs filled 
with stones, and slanted so that their points came just at the sur- 
face of the water. The British sailors found little difficulty in 
passing this obstruction under the guidance of a deserter, after 
their capture of the Highland forts, and the cribs were gradually 
destroyed by ice, or removed. Later, Pollopel's Island was prob- 
ably used as a place of confinement for prisoners of war, and it is 
now an occasional picnic resort. 

Cornwall appears, as the steamer gets farther on, thicklyj 
set along the base of Storm King, which extends backward in a 
lofty ridge. Here, fifty-three miles from New York, is a busy] 
landing and railway station, where the Neic York, Ontario <& 
Western Railimy — whose trains run between this point and New 
York (Weehawken) over the tracks of the "West Shore Railroad — 
leaves the river for the interior of the State, and to a connection 
with the Canadian Pacific's transcontinental system on the St. 
Lawrence River. 

The extensive pier which this company built in 1892, to form 
a tide- water terminus for the delivery of coal and other freight, 
is seen a few rods northward. Nearly all of the minor lines of 
steamboats stop here; but the Albany day-line does not do so, 
landing only at Newburgh, two miles beyond. Great quantities 
of small fruit are sent away from here, in spring and summer, to 
New York, and the place is the most populous summer resort 
upon the river. 

Cornwall-on-tlie-Hudson lies along the sloping base of Storm 
King, the best houses and hotels occupying a table-land that 
overlooks the Hudson and the pretty valley of the Moodna. 
Nathaniel P. Willis styled this plateau the Highland Terrace, 
and said that the curving mountains bent about it seemed "like 
a waving arm, like a gesture from Nature, and an invitation to 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 113 

I3ome and look around you." Willis himself made liis home here 
in a many-gabled cottage designed by Calvert Vaux — since cele- 
^brated as an architect, and the designer of Central Park, New 
York — who was then a young man in Newburgh. It is now 
occupied by William A. Hudson, and has many nearer neighbors 
than when Willis lived and wrote there during the last fifteen 

L years of his life, and loved it for its real remoteness, although 

, within sight of "the thronged thoroughfare of the Hudson," 
Nearer the mountain, and perhaps a mile from the landing, is 

H the home and fruit farm of the late Rev. E. P. Roe, who was, 
perhaps, the most popular and influential American novelist of 
his day. Somewhat beyond his estate, on the slope of Deer Hill 
— the small foot-hill projecting conspicuously into the valley — 

■ still dwells another well-known novelist — Mrs. Amelia E. Barr — 

J in a locality distinguished as Cornwall Heights, 

j The vicinity of Cornwall is a little literary Parnassus in itself. 
Edward W. Bok, in a chatty article in the Chicago Herald, thus 
described the authors' homes there: ' 

" It is now nearly forty-five years ago since Nathaniel P. Willis 
• first made known his 'Idlewild' retreat, and more than twenty- 
five years have passed since he left it to be taken to Mount 
Auburn, near Boston. The 'Idlewild' of today is still green 
to the memory of the poet. Since Willis' death the place has 
passed in turn into various hands, until now it is the home of a 
wealthy New York lawyer, who has spent thousands of dollars 
on the house and grounds. The old house still stands, and here 
and there in the grounds remains a suggestion of the time of Willis. 
The famous pine drive leading to the mansion, along which the 
greatest literary lights of the Knickerbocker period passed 
during its palmy days, still remains intact, the dense growth 
of the trees only making the road the more picturesque. The 
brook at which Willis often sat still runs on through the grounds 
as of yore. In the house, everything is remodeled and remodern- 
ized. The room from whose windows Willis was wont to look 
over the Hudson, and where he did most of his charming writing, 
is now a bedchamber, modern in its every appointment, and sug- 
gesting its age only by the high ceiling and curious mantel. 
Visitors are now denied the grounds — a forbidding sign announc- 
ing to the wanderer that the 125 acres of 'Idlewild' are 'Pri- 
vate Grounds,' This restriction w^as found necessary, one of the 
occupants informed me, because of the liberties taken by visitors, 
who still come, almost every week, to see the place made famous 
by ' the dude poet of the Hudson,' as he is still called by the old 
residents of Cornwall, Only a few city blocks from ' Idlewild ' 
8 



114 * WEST FOOT TO NEWBURGH. 

is the house where lived E. P. Roe, the author of so many popu 
lar novels, as numerous, almosf, in number as the several hun 
dreds of thousands of circulation which they secured. The Roc 
house is unoccupied, and has been since the death of the novelist. 
For a time, the widow and some members of the family resided 
there, but Mrs. Roe now lives in New York, and the Cornwall 
place is for sale. There are twenty-three acres to it in all, and, 
save wdiat was occupied by the house, every inch of ground was 
utilized by the novelist in his hobby for fine fruits and rare flow- 
ers. Now nothing remains of the beauty once so ( haracteristic of 
the place. For four years the grounds have missed the care of 
their creator. Where once were the novelist's celebrated straw- 
berry beds, are now only grass ard weeds. Everything is grown 
over, only a few trees remaining as evidence that the grounds 
were ever know^n for their cultivated products. A large board 
sign announces the fact that the entire place is for sale. 

"Aw^ay up on the mountain-side, flanked on the right by Storm 
King Mountain and on the left by Deer Hill, is the pretty road- 
side cottage home of Amelia E, Barr. The place is a mute testi- 
mony of the novelist's success, it having been bought by her, last 
spring, from the profits of her literary w^ork. It stands some 600 
feet above the Hudson, with a view of landscape that stretches to 
the Catskills. Here, where one feels closer to his Creator and 
farther from his fellow-men, Mrs. Barr writes the stories which 
bring her nn income of over $8,000 a year, and make her one of 
the most successful novelists of the day." 

The beauty of its situation renders Cornwall a fashionable 
resort during the summer, when its many beautiful residences 
are the scene of a constant round of gaiety. The entertainment 
of summer visitors has become the characteristic business of the 
town. About 5,000 persons annually take their summer abode 
here, and the permanent population has Increased, within a few 
years, to about 3,000 souls. The hotels and boarding-houses do 
not reach the magnificent proportions of some of the Saratoga 
hotels, but are neat and convenient. There are several schools 
and churches, a savings bank, public library and reading-room 
in the village. 

The neighborhood abounds in varied and interesting drives 
over good roads, which wind about the broad valley of the 
Moodna, wdiere almost every house, glen, and hilltop has some 
memory of the patriot army and the war for American independ- 
ence. Especially noteworthy are "the Montana drive, which is 
one of the most romantic and picturesque in the district; the 
Moodua drive, traversing the bed of the glen through a laby- 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. ' 115 

rinth of groves and sylvan grottoes; and also the drive to Orange 
Lake through one of the most fertile valleys in the State, the 
road leading through a continuous chain of stock farms and wav- 
ing fields of ripe golden grain." A new road has just been com- 
pleted across the mountains to West Point, but is saitl, by 
impartial travelers, to fall far short of the praise that it has 
received. It is no better than the old road from Cornwall to 
Cranston's and West Point, and that is dangerous for light 
vehicles in several places, and utterly useless for bicycling. 
Country lanes and by-paths invite those who enjoy rambling 
afoot to explore the shaggy heights of Storm King and the 
Schunemunk, whose blue height is seen inland, broadside on; or 
to wander into valley nooks, away from the dusty highways. 
(Read Roe's Nature's Serial Story for the local scenery.) One 
needs only to be a student of colonial history, and a reader of 
Willis, to find here a parallel to the peculiar attractiveness more 
widely felt toward Tarrytown. The camp of the Continental 
army, in 1782-83, spoken of farther on, is just as accessible from 
here as from Newburgh. 

One sees nothing of Cornwall from the West Shore Railroad, 
which follows the beach ; and not much is learned of it from the 
boats, or the distant eastern shore; but a grand mountain view 
develops as the Highlands are gradually left behind. The mouth 
of the Moodna (another of Willis' names — it was always Mur- 
derer's Greek before his time), Plum Point, and New Windsor are 
passed in succession. 

New Windsor became prominent in revolutionary annals, 
when it was the home of the Clintons, and the birthplace of De 
Witt Clinton, the famous "canal" governor of the State in after 
years. 

From the campaign of 1777 on, these broad valleys on both 
sides of the river, along the northern base of the Highlands, were 
the scene of constant musterings of soldiers and war-like opera- 
tions; and in June, 1779, Washington came to reside at New 
Windsor, taking Thomas Ellison's, on tlie hill immediately south 
of the village, as his headquarters; while his geneials, Knox, 
Lafayette, and others, were nearer their respective commands, up 
the Moodna valley, on the Fishkill shore, or in the mountains. 
Here he and Wayne planned the capture of Stony Point, and here 
he himself was nearly captured by treachery. This house w^as 
undermined not long ago and destroyed by the digging of the 



116 WEST POESTT TO NEWBURGH. 

clay-pits. Washington left New Windsor the following winter 
and summer, hut returned in the autumn of 1780, and made 
ready for the southern campaign of the next summer — which 
resulted in the capture of Cornwallis — and from which the army 
returned to encamp for the winter in the valley of the Moodna, 
above New Windsor, while Washington resided at Newburgh, as 
we shall presently see. 

The City of Newburgh has already attracted the attention of 
all travelers, since it covers the slope of a wide hillside along the 
western bank of the river, with a long water-front crowded with 
shipping, and tier upon tier of business and residential streets 
rising to the crest of the ridge. On the opposite (eastern) shore | 
of the river {Neichurgh Bay) is Fishkill. 

Newburgh is beautiful for situation. The site rises from the 
margin of the river, here 1}^ miles wide, in a series of terraces 
that well display the city from the water, and make it a brilliant ^ 
spectacle when lighted up at night. Its icater-frontis crowded for 
two miles with wharves, warehouses, factories, and railway 
structures, which hide to some extent the business streets; but 
these are mainly narrow, and irregular, and unattractive. Higher 
up are the residences, standing in tiers along the hillside, where 
broad, well-shaded, and smoothly graded avenues are modern " 
and most pleasant in appearance, and are studded with the 
churches and schools whose spires are conspicuous from the 
river. There are two parks, and capital roads for driving in all 
directions. Water is pure and abundant, and the drainage is 
natural and thorough; the city is lighted by gas and electricity, 
has street cars in all directions, a capable police and fire brigade, 
and a watchful Board of Health. Its seven public schools are of 
a high order. One among them, the Glebe School, in Clinton 
Street, is the regular successor of a series of schools, which began 
in 1752, and was sustained by a part of the revenues of the Glebe 
lands, appropriated by the Government for the support of divine 
service and teaching in the infant colony. Another is the New- 
burgh Academy, which also grew out of the Glebe funds, about 
1790, and was the first institution of higher learning in all this 
region. It is now the city's high school, and occupies a new and 
commodious building on Montgomery Street. To these must be 
added three schools under the care of the Roman Catholic 
churches, and eight private schools, notable among which are 



WEST POINT TO NEWBUIIGH. 117 

Mount St. Mary's Academy and Miss Mackie's for girls, and 
Siglar's preparatory sdiool for boys. Besides tliis, tlie city well 
supports a Free Library and Reading-room, with over 17,000 
volumes — one of the most admirable public libraries in the eastern 
United States; it is at No. 100 Grand Street. Music also receives 
a large amount of attention, and there is a pretty theater. 

Newburgh is the home of many wealthy and refined families, 
and the amenities of life are cultivated. 

Among her citizens of wide reputation are Joel T. Headley, the 
]' author of many works of history, biography, and travel — written 
I in a popular manner — and one of the earliest exponents of the 
(beauty of the Upper Hudson and the Adirondacks. Mr, Head- 
I ley has lived here over thirty years, and is now ninety years of age. 
i Other citizens of note have been Henry Kirke Brown, the 
sculptor; Charles and Andrew Downing, pomologists and land- 
I scape gardeners; Judge J. Monell, the jurist, and many others. 
' The City Club, at Grand and Third streets, is the leading social 
club; while the extraordinary local interest in outdoor sports, 
and particularly those of an aquatic kind, has led to the organi- 
zation of several clubs for yachting, rowing, canoeing, etc. The 
Palatine^on Grand Street, is the newest hotel, and one of the finest 
in the Hudson Valley. The old United States is near Fishkill ferry. 

Historical Sketch. — Newburgh occupies almost the only 
spot upon the western shore of the river, between Kingston and 
Jersey City, where a great town could be situated, accessible by 
l^assable wagon roads to the interior. It has therefore excelled, 
from the first, as a trading town. Settled in the beginning (1709) 
by refugees from the Palatinate, who were given lands along 
Quassaick Creek by Queen Anne, these were gradually outnum- 
bered by Dutch, Scotch, and English accessions, forming a com- 
munity " diligent in business." Before the Revolution, the farm- 
ers of all the back country brought hither their produce for 
sale or shipment; the lumber and stave trade became important; 
ships were built that engaged in the Liverpool and West Indian 
trading, and the town was even a whaling port of some account. 
During the latter part of the Revolutionary War, Newburgh and 
Fishkill were the center of the most active operations. This 
meant an increase of trade and wealth for both farmers and citi- 
zens; and, as the place escaped direct devastation by the British, 
after the fall of the forts in the Highlands, it was in better condi- 
tion than many other of the river villages to go ahead when 
peace presented the opportunity. With the opening of this 
century, Newburgh became a village separate from the town- 
10 



118 WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH* 

ship— the third in the State to receive that distinction. It then 
had some 1,500 inhabitants, and contained several churches, an 
academy, a post office, newspaper (the Packet), a fire company, 
and was filled with enterprise. Its citizens promoted and mainly 
built the Cochecton turnpike, wliich brought them a large 
amount of trade from the west which theretofore had gone to New 
Windsor, and that ambitious rival was forever left behind. The 
opening of other turnpikes followed, and Newburgh speedily 
became the most important trading and export point on tlie river, 
where the shipping was steadily increased to meet the growing 
demands of both passenger and freight traffic. Until 18B0, sail- 
ing-vessels, chiefly sloops, carried the produce to New York, and 
returned with merchandise to be forwarded to the interior or 
sold in the local shops; but after 1830 steamboats took their 
place for all local traffic, and those of the Newburgh lines were 
the crack boats of the day. The streets leading to the docks 
were frequently blocked for hours with farmers' and freighters' 
wagons, coming in long processions from the interior of the State, 
and even from Northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania, to deposit 
and renew their loads at the wharves; and the turnpike resounded 
with clattering coaches, which ran thence to many interior towns, 
and connected through them to the West; for the shortest route 
from New York to Buffalo at that time was by way of Newburgh 
and Ithaca. 

" But the completion of the Erie Canal diverted most of this 
great trade through other channels; and on the night when the 
waters of Lake Ei'ie mingled with those of the Atlantic, in the 
harbor of New York, with beacon-fires blazing on the headlands 
along tlie Hudson, Newburgh rolled up and laid away its map of; 
the Southern Tier. Considerable travel by stage-coach continued 
until the opening of railroads through the center of the State, 
and a large trade remained with the southeastern portion of this 
State and neighboring portions of New Jersey and Pennsylvania; 
but the Delaware & Hudson Canal at length penetrated this 
region, and cut off another source of wealth. Efforts were made 
to repair the loss thus sustained, by the organization of a company 
to engage in whale-fishing, and by endeavoring to secure the 
establishment here of a Government navy-yard. The former 
enterprise, liowever, met with limited success, and the proposal 
to establish a navy -yard did not receive the favor of the Govern- 
ment. The construction of the Erie Railroad from Goshen to 
Piermont, and its subsequent extension in other directions, took 
away the last vestige of the ancient trade of Newburgh, and the 
old stage-coaches, and the long lines of farmers' wagons, with 
their stores of butter and pork, became but a memory." 

"But," adds the author of JVewbvrgJt,* — from which the pre- 

* NEWBirRQH: Her Institutions, Industries, and Leading Citizens. By 
John J. Nutt. Quarto, Illustrated, pp. 335. Newburgh: Ritchie & Hull, 
1891. 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 119 

ceding words were quoted — "another change has come; a new 
era has dawned; the tidal wave of prosperity that swept over 
the village 100 years ago has returned. The old turnpikes 
have been paralleled with railroads, stretching to us from every 
direction; and the river, too, gives communication with the 
Atlantic Coast and all the world." 

In sj)(yrt, Newburgh has always taken a prominent place. The 
first general rowing regatta on the Hudson was held there in 1837, 
succeeded by others in 1840, 1841, and 1842, which excited great 
public interest. By this time, special oarsmen had been developed, 
and the gay popular contests among amateurs degenerated into 
races between professionals, among whom were such leading men 
as the Wards, the Donoghues. and others of international repute. 
Walter Brown was also a Newburgh man; and the great sculling 
race between him and Hamill, run liere in 1867, will be recalled by 
boatmen. Yachting never reached so far, but in the '70's some 
good races were seen in the bay, and here, in 1877, catamarans 
were first admitted as a class. Speed-skating, as a sport, origi- 
nated here, where June, Shaw, the Donoghues, and other famous 
skaters won their first laurels, and then went forth to compete suc- 
cessfully with Canadian and European champions; and here is 
still the headquarters of professional skating. 

Newburgh is a station on the West Shore Railroad, and a ter- 
minus of the Erie and of the New York, Ontario &, Western Rd., 
which connect, by ferry transfer, with the New York &> New 
England Railroad on the other side of the river. 

The town has electric cars, which run from Balmville, north 
of the city, to the southern extremity, and out Broadway to 
Orange Lake, a picnic and fishing place seven miles west, and on 
to Walden, on the Walkill Valley Rd., fourteen miles from New- 
burgh. This line has cars, in summer, every half hour, and offers 
a pleasant excursion through charming scenery. 

The driving excursions possible in the neighborhood of 
Newburgh are among its special attractions. Excellent roads run 
in every direction through a district of country-seats and neat 
dairy farms, here descending into some romantic glen, there com- 
ing out upon a knoll where the river and the mountains are dis- 
played in some new aspect of beauty. Northward, two lovely 
roads extend parallel for several miles, lined with well-kept 
estates, some of which are remarkable for effects in landscape 
gardening and scientific horticulture. Passing the site of Wie- 
gancVs old log-house, where Wayne had his headquarters, and 
Hathaway Glen, the road comes to ' ' the balm-of-Gilead tree " — an 
immense and aged landmark, giving the name Balmville to the 
suburb. Here several roads diverge to New Paltz, Plattekill, 



120 WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 

Modena, and other fruit-growing villages inland ; to the up-river 
towns, and down along the shore past the convent of the Sacred 
Heart and Roseton. 

Southward from Newburgh extend several other broad high- 
ways, with many connecting cross-roads. One traverses the man- 
ufacturing district along Quassaick Creek, and gets a glimpse 
of the deep Vale of Avoca, where a treacherous attempt to capture 
Washington at the house of a farmer was frustrated by the man's 
daughter and the general's cool precautions. "A mile below the 
vale," says Nutt, "we pass through the ancient village of New 
Windsor — a little collection of houses on the river shore. The 
place is now given over to brick-making, but before and during 
the Revolution it was an important trading village. Its impor- 
tance then exceeded Newburgh's, and it was predicted it would 
become the chief city of the central Hudson Valley. A large 
town was mapped out, and the work of the projectors may be 
traced in the few remaining streets; but it has its principal exist- 
ence in old maps of record. In this little hamlet, Gen. James 
Clinton lived after his marriage, and here his son De Witt was 
cradled. ... A mile below New Windsor village is Plum \ 
Point, a wooded promontory at the mouth of the Moodna, 
approached over a natural causeway. On Plum Point, in the 
early part of the war for independence, was erected a battery of i 
fourteen guns, designed to assist in maintaining obstructions to 
the navigation of the river, which at this point consisted of a 
clievaux-de-frise stretching across to PoUopel's Island. It was 
known in official orders as Capt. Machin's battery. Outlines of 
its embrasures are still visible. In the vicinity of the battery are 
the remains of the cellar of the first dwelling-house in this county. 
Its owner was Col. Patrick MacGregorie, a Scotch gentleman of 
fortune, who was chosen leader of a company of persecuted 
Presbyterians, who emigrated from Scotland, and settled on this 
beautiful spot." 

The northern side of Plum Point is washed by the waters of 
Waoraneck, or Murderer's Creek, to which Willis has fastened the 
prettier name Moodna. One of its tributaries falls from the 
grounds of his home, "Idlewild," which is in full view from 
the point where the road crosses the stream, at the mouth of a 
deep glen. This road continues southward to Cornwall, and on 



WEST POINT TO NEWBUEGF. 121 

over the mountains; or one may tarn up the Moodna Valley, 
visit the former headquarters of Lafayette, see the place at the 
foot of Forge Hill where the chain that crossed the Hudson at 
West Point was partly put together; and, ascending to the old con- 
tinental road, on the table-land of New "Windsor, visit the famous 
Ellison House, a partly stone, partly frame mansion, built in 1754 
by Col. Thomas Ellison (whose earlier residence, near the river, 
has been mentioned as Washington's headquarters in 1779), in 
which Gens. Knox, Gates, Greene, and other officers had a mili- 
tary residence at different periods during the active operations 
here, between 1779 and 1783. It is an excellent example of a sub- 
stantial, old-fashioned rural home of the better class, and remains 
very much as it appeared when the brilliant Mrs. Knox gave a 
party there at which the highest officers of the Continental army 
and all the sparkling belles and gracious dames of this country- 
side were entertained. Not far above w^as the great cantonment 
of the army during the winter of 1782-83, where, in the large 
public building on Temple Hill, peace was proclaimed lo the 
soldiers, and whence they marched home on furloughs which 
became perpetual. Many traces of that eventful occupation still 
remain upon the ground, which is skirted by the Erie Railroad's 
branches (with a convenient station at VaiVs Gate); and a large 
field-monument has been erected by the people of the neighbor- 
ing towns, under the guidance of the learned local historian, 
E. M. Ruttenber. All this historic ground is within five miles of 
Newburgh or Cornwall, and the vicinity of Fishkill is scarcely 
less interesting. 

This fitly introduces the object of chief interest to the stranger 
in Newburgh: 

WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS. 

This building, which now forms a Jiistoi'ical museum of great 
value, is situated in the southern-central part of the city, and 
derives its interest from the fact that it w^as occupied by George 
Washington, as the general headquarters of the Northern army, 
from April, 1782, to August, 1783. It stands in plain view from 
the river, or the Fishkill shore, upon an eminence, the brow of 
which is adorned by the new Tower of Victory, sheltering a statue 
of the commander-in-chief. Liberty Street trolley-cars pass the gate. 



122 WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 

This house was the home of Jonathan Hasbrouck, a farmer, 
miller, merchant, and leading man in the community; and here, 
in the early days of the Revolution, many meetings of supervisors 
and committees of safety were held, and the militia assembled 
whenever called upon for local service, as often happened. The 
northeast corner of the building is the oldest portion, and was 
erected by Hasbrouck in 1750; the southeast corner was added in 
1760, the west half in 1770, and the whole embraced under 
one roof, the structure of which, as shown in the attic, will inter- 
est all builders. The west, or southwest, view is said to give a 
better idea of the house as it appeared at the time of its occupa- 
tion by Washington, the west being the true front of the building 
on Liberty street, then " the King's highway," or old public road. 
As described by men who were familiar with the prendses from 
boyhood, tlure was a front yard on Liberty Street, while immedi- 
ately south of the house were the barns. East was the family 
garden, beyond which, between the house and river, was the 
family burial-plot in which Col. Hasbrouck was buried. 

The property was bought by the State of New York in 1849, 
and placed under the care of a board of trustees, to be preserved 
as a memorial. It was dedicated in 1850, with impressive 
ceremonies, Maj.-Gen. Winfield S. Scott formally raising the 
flag, while an ode was sung. The house has been restored, and 
maintained in repair, as closely like its original condition, within 
and without, as possible, and is stored with a large and exceed- 
ingly interesting collection of furniture, accouterments, docu- 
ments, and miscellaneous historical relics, mainly belonging to 
the revolutionary period. It is under the care of a superintendent, 
and is open, free, to the public every week day. 

A descriptive catalogue, prepared by Dr. E. M. Ruttenber, is 
sold (price 25 cents), from the preface to which the following 
facts are selected; it should be purchased by all visitors (the 
bound copies, 50 cents, contain a historical appendix), not only 
because of its intrinsic value, but as a modest contribution to the 
funds for maintaining the museum. 

On the 4th of April, 1782, Washington made this building his] 
headquarters, and remained here until August 18, 1783, " While ! 
here, he passed through the most trying period of the Revolution — 
the year of inactivity on the part of Congress, of distress through- 1 
out the country, and of complaint and discontent in the army, ! 
the latter at one time bordering on revolt among the otficers and 
soldiers; but a period, nevertheless, marked by victories more sub- 
stantial than those which had been won in the field, as well as by 
the successful culmination of the long and heroic struggle for 
national independence." 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGS. 1^3 

The general and his family occupied the entire house. The 
large room entered from the piazza on the east was Washing- 
ton's dining-room; the northeast room was his bedroom, and the 
one adjoining it on the left was his private office. The family 
room was in the southeast, the parlor in the northwest, the 
kitchen in the southwest corner. Though one of the largest 
houses of the region, it was so small that a guest could only be 
accommodated by placing a camp-bed in the parlor, as was done 
on special occasions. Such a guest, in December, 1782, was the 
Marquis de Chastellux, one of Rochambeau's officers, who has 
left the only authoritative account of the domestic life and 
hospitality of Gen. and Mrs. Washington under these cramped 
conditions. This officer was struck, moreover, by the admirable 
discipline at headquarters. "When one sees," he remarks, "a 
battalion of the general's guard encamped within the precincts of 
his house; nine wagons, destined to carry his baggage, ranged in 
his court; a great number of grooms taking care of very fine 
horses belonging to the general officers and their aids-de-camp; 
when one observes the perfect order that reigns within these 
precincts, where the guards are exactly stationed, and where the 
drums beat an alarm and a particular retreat, one is tempted to 
apply to the Americans what Pyrrhus said of the Romans: 
' Truly these people have nothing barbarous in their discipline.' " 

The papers and relics within and without the house are 
worthy of special examination. The credit for their collection is 
largely due to the late Enoch Carter of Newburgh, but many 
accessions have been the gift of others. The printed catalogue 
gives a particular description of each, and most objects are intel- 
ligently labeled. 

The Uock of brownstone near the entrance is a monument over 
the grave of Uzal Knapp, the last survivor of Washington's Life 
Guard, who died in 1856, ninety-six years old. 

The Life Guards were stationed a few rods northwest of Wash- 
ington's headquarters. They were all native Americans, "sober, 
young, active, and well made," the pick of the army, and none 
less than five feet nine inches tall. Their uniform consisted of a 
blue coat, with white facings, white waistcoat and breeches, 
black stock and black half -gaiters, and a round hat with blue and 
white feather. The motto of the corps was, " Conquer or Die." 
Their number was about sixty. William Colfax was the captain 
commandant. 

The Tower of Victory is a memorial monument of artistic 
interest, standing on the northeast corner of the Headquarters' 
ground, and overlooking the river, from which it is well seen. 
It is the result of a movement the design of which was to mark 



124 WEST POINT TO NEWBTJRGH. 

not only that spot, but also the encampment grounds at New 
Windsor and Fishkill. The final decision was to erect here a 
single monument, and the matter was placed in the hands of a 
committee of Congress and the Secretary of War, who approved 
plans submitted by Maurice J. Power of New York, drawn by 
John H. Duncan, architect. 

It is a stone tower, fifty-three feet high, with four large arch- 
ways that open into an atrium, and stairways leading into a belve- 
dere. In the center of the atrium is a bronze statue of Washing- 
ton, copied fiom Houdon's celebrated model by O'Donovau. 
Resting in niches in the walls are four bronze figures represent- 
ing four arms of the service in the army of the Revolution — the 
dragoon, the artilleryman, the rifleman, and the line officer — 
dressed in costumes of the times. Four large bronze gates, bear- 
ing seals and coats-of-arms of the thirteen original Slates, guard 
the approach to the atrium, and are raised and lowered by port- 
cullis. A bronze tablet is set on the exterior east wall, with a 
figure of Peace in relief. It bears this inscription: " This monu- 
ment was erected under the authority of the Congress of the 
United States, and of the State of New Yoi'k, in commemoration 
of the disbandment, under proclamation of the Continental Con- 
gress of October 18, 1783, of the armies by whose patriotic and 
military virtue our national independence and sovereignty were 
established." The total cost was $67,000. 

The view from the belvedere of this tower well repays the 
exertion of climbing the stairways. It extends up-river to where 
the New Hamburgh shore bends out of view behind Low Point. 
Now the eye sweeps along a sparsely settled shore, down past 
Fishkill (opposite), and follows the rampart of the Beacon Hills 
to where the rough ridges of BreakneckMountainfall steeply down, 
opposite the precipices of Storm King. The gap between the 
two is half filled by the ugly little heap of rocks and brush form- 
ing Pollopel's Island, and beyond it the eye sees, far down the 
stream, the promontory of West Point; and still farther, the 
curving eastern shore behind Anthony's Nose. The rounded bulk 
of Storm King is here lifted up to the best advantage, with the 
liouses and gardens of Cornwall scattered like some quaint 
inscription along its base, and the massive front overhead, 
" scarred by a hundred wintry water-courses," rounding down 
with simple dignity to where the Hudson rolls against its deeply 
buried base. Beyond is Cro' Nest, equally massive, and the two 
are like the paired paws of some colossal sphinx crouching upon 



._. ._fi 



WEST rOINT TO NEWBUKGH. 125 

the bauk, while its head towers invisible into the vault of heaven. 
Beneath, pigmy ships go sailing, and over them whirl the clouds, 
but their passive majesty is unruffled. Inland from these noble 
headlands, lofty and rugged summits stretch southwestward into 
Orange County, and the blue rampart of Schunemunk Mount 
lises across the head of the valley westward, with 'Chattoes Hill 
as a landmark nearer the city. 

Fishkill is a term which applies in a general way to all the 
shore opposite Newburgh, and to the whole valley of the 
Matteawan, or Fishkill Creek, along the base of the Fishkill 
Mountains. The visible settlement at the ferry and railway sta- 
tion is Fishkill Landing, or, in the more high-sounding modern 
phrase, Fishkill-on-IIuclson. Two miles inland, this village blends 
with the pleasant manufacturing town Matteawan, and three 
miles farther up-stream is the ancient settlement which was 
the original "Fishkill," and is now distinguished as Fislikill Vil- 
lage. The two last named are stations on the Newburgh, Dutch- 
ess & Connecticut Railroad, wiiicli connects with the Hudson 
River Railroad at Dutchess Junction, two miles south of Fishkill 
Landing. 

The railway station and landing of the steam ferry to New- 
burgh (fare 9 cents), at Fishkill Landing, are in connected build- 
ings. Here, also, the line of electric street-cars may be taken, 
which will carry the passenger through Matteawan to Fishkill , 
Village. Fishkill Landing and Matteawan together contain some 
12,000 people, and are busy in trade and manufactures, especially 
at Matteawan, where the water-power of the picturesque stream is 
utilized by factories that are overshadowed by elms, and look out 
upon lovely landscapes that must go far to compensate for con- 
finement at desk and loom within their walls. 

Historically, Fishkill is full of interesting associations. The 
district was purchased from the Indians toward the end of the 
seventeenth century, and the earliest pioneers of Dutchess County 
were living at the mouth of Fishkill Creek previous to 1700. By 
the time of the opening of the Revolution, however, the whole 
Piedmont district was well-cultivated, populous, and prosperous, 
with a community mainly Dutch and English. 

"Fishkill Village " ^uti^nhQT writes, "was then the largest 
and most important place in Dutchess County, and most 



126 WEST POmT TO NEWBURGH. 

favorably situated for communication with the Eastern States, 
while its proximity to tbe forts in the Highlands rendered it not 
only one of convenience, but one that could readily be covered 
against marauding attacks by the enemy. These considerations 
led to its selection (August 28, 1776) ... as the place to 
which should be removed the treasury and archives of the 
State, and as the place for holding the subsequent sessions of the 
Provincial Convention " [which had been driven out of New York], 
" Almost immediately following (xlugust 14lh), it was resolved to 
quarter troops here, establish hospitals, depots for provisions, 
etc., and convert the place into an armed encampment. From 
that time until the war closed some portion of the army was 
constantly here, and its invalid-camp was never without occu- 
pants." The two old churches — the Reformed Dutch and the 
Episcopal — remain, as well as many of the old residences, includ- 
ing the Wharton House, where the Committee of Safety held its 
meetings; the Veiylanck House, headquarters of Steuben, who 
used the level plateau near the river, at the foot of the mountains, 
as a drilling-ground; the Brinckerhoff House, headquartei's of 
Washington; the Brett (or Teller) House, wdiich was built in 1709 
as the manor-house of the great Rumbout patent; and other 
historical buildings are still preserved. 

At that time, tbe present Fishkill Landing was represented by 
a small wharf 'di Denning' s Point, the shady little peninsula — with 
a white house among the trees — jutting out from the shore a mile 
south of the present long steamboat wharf. Denning's Point was 
then owned and occupied by Capt. William Denning, an influen- 
tial patriot and army officer; and it was there the original IMew- 
buigh ferry (which had existed under charter for many j^ears 
previously) made its landing. Two great oaks stood on the 
point, widely known as the Washington oaks, as a reminder of 
that time; but one of them was blown down a few years ago. In 
early times the present main road up the hill did not exist, but 
the road from the landing was that which leads inland north of 
the present station. The Verplanck House still stands, with some 
additions, on the turnpike to Poughkeepsie, about 1\^ miles 
north of the railway station, and half-a-mile back from the river. 
It was not only occupied by Baron Steuben, but within its walls 
was framed the constitution of the Society of the Cincinnati, 
which was practically organized at Newburgh. 

The Beacon Hills. — The finely sculptured range of elevations 
extending northeastward from here, and forming the front of the 
Highlands on this side, are known as the Fishkill Mountains, or 
Beacon Hills. The last name is due to the fact that in the Revo- 
lution some of their peaks were prominent stations for the beacons, 
or signal-fires, which w^ere intended to give warning of any 
approach by an enemy. 



WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH. 127 

The beacon-pyres were pyramidal in form, made of logs 
filled in with brush and inflammable materials, and carried 
I to a height of thirty feet; and that upon Butter HilL gave the 
first signal, to which the others were subordinate. The lofty 
peak beyond Matteawan, and south of the deep gap in the range 
j there, is still known as the North Beacon. South of it, three- 
quarters of a mile distant, is South Beacon. The latter is the 
higher of the two (1,685 feet), and is the big overtopping hill seen 
directly west from the railroad or river when at, or opposite, 
Denning's Point and Dutchess Junction; it is not visible from 
Fishkill or Matteawan, being hidden by the long lidge of North 
Beacon. It can be ascended without much difficulty almost anj^- 
where, but most easily from near the terminus of the electric road 
in Matteawan. Here a road leads up the gulch separating Nonh 
Beacon (on the right) from Fishkill Mountain. About a mile from 
the village it forks, and the right branch (w^hich is to be followed) 
crosses the brook and ascends a side valley dividing North Beacon 
from Lamb's Hill. Half-a-mile more, in the course of which one 
gets some very interesting outlooks eastward over the Hudson, 
Newburgh, and the adjacent country, biings the walker to the 
reservoir of the Fishkill and Matteawan Water Company, and to 
" Beacon Inn," the house of the guaidian, who sells materials for 
a mountain luncheon, edible, potable, and fumaceous, and is 
very accommodating in respect to information. North Beacon 
is the height behind the cabin, and the road curves to the right, 
and leads directly to its top. South Beacon is half-a-mile away, 
across the reservoir, but will repay the climber with a much 
wider view. Thus far, a stout carriage can come with little diffi- 
culty in good weather. The path to South Beacon follows the 
shore around the south side of the reservoir to its farthest point, 
where there is a clearing made by wood-cutters, and then, turn- 
ing to the right, goes straight up to the summit — a steep but not 
hard climb. The peak is a cap of bare rocks, and overlooks not 
only a long stretch of the Hudson Valley and the Newburgh 
region, but a large part of Dutchess County northward, and 
almost the whole of Putnam County southward, with a big patch 
of the river near Peekskill. Watchers liere could therefore see 
more than at any other point in the Highlands east of the river. 
A cool day should be chosen for the ascent, as shade is deficient. 



NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 

The Hudson above Newburgh is a scene of quiet beauty and 
interest for many miles, with the landscape astern taking on a 
new charm as distance mellows the picture. The river gradually 
narrows, and the channel is once more in the center of the stream. 
At Low Pointy or Carthage Landing, is a village and railway 
station on the east side, with a straight road to Fishkill Village. 
Opposite is the small brick-making settlement of BosetoUy or 
Middlehope, a mile above which the house of Bancroft Davis may 
be seen, close above the railway, with the Armstrong mansion a 
little beyond. Here the boat's course follows the river, in a bend 
to the right, around Low Point; and there appears ahead, upon 
the left, a rocky headland with wall-like fronts of white rock. 
This crag has long been known as the Danskammer, or Devil's 
Dance-hall — a name going back to the voyage of Henry Hudson. 
The ' ' devils " referred to are Indians, who were accustomed to 
meet here for councils, merrymakings, etc., always accompanied 
by dancing about the camp-fire, when they seemed fiends incar- 
nate to the witch-fearing Calvinistic Dutchman. This point 
was the boundary-line between the jurisdictions of New Amster- 
dam and Fort Orange (Albany); and Hampton Point, half-a-mile 
above, is the place where now the northern boundary of Orange 
County comes to the river and the southern border of Ulster 
County. No county crosses the river; and on the east, Dutchess 
continues as far north as Tivoli. 

Having passed the Danskamer, the pretty vale of 

New Hamburgh — one of the old Palatinate settlements— opens 
to view on the right, where Wappinger's Creek, named after the 
powerful "Wappinger Indians, comes in from the northeast, and is 
crossed by the Hudson River Railroad upon a drawbridge. This 
valley is the home of many summer residents of wealth and 
social station. Resuming here the more truly northward course, 
the steamer is soon passing the bluff shores of Marlborough, 
whose spires can be seen at the head of the gorge of the Maune- 

(138) 



„„lkS%?,. 








^i — 



NEWBUIIGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 129 

kill, in the opening of which is the railway station and steamboat 
landing. This was one of the towns bombarded when the British 
went up the river. It is now a thriving village, which sends a 
great quantity of fruit to the city, and welcomes summer 
boarders. The hilly bank opposite, for two or three miles above 
New Hamburgh, is dotted with the fine country-houses of the 
Van Rensselaers; S. W. Johnson at "Uplands"; J. F. Sheafe at 
"High Cliff"; Irving Grinnell, on the river brink, at "Nether- 
wood "; Dr. J. Lenox Banks at "The Cedars" — the house with a 
square white tower — and many others. Still farther north, the 
tower of " Elkhorn," the residence of Prof. R. H. Bull, will 
attract attention. 

A few miles farther briugs the traveler to Milton., another 
little fruit-yielding port and village, among the hills on the west- 
ern side. The West Shoro Railroad has a station here, and the 
Hudson River Railroad one opposite, whence a traveler may be 
set across by boatmen. Milton is coming to be a great favorite 
with summer residents. Readers of the illustrated magazines 
will be glad to know that this village was the early home of Mary 
Hallock Foote, the artist-author, who learned among the old 
Quaker families the facts and local color of those stories of primi- 
tive life among the Friends which have delighted her readers. 
Milton's wharf is piled high with the crates in which strawberries, 
raspberries, currants, grapes, and other small fruits are sent by 
steamboat to the city. 

Off westward may be seen the serrated summits of the Shawan- 
gunk Range (pronounced " Shawngum"), trending northward at 
the headwaters of the Wallkill. 

ICE AND THE ICE HARVEST. 

It is in this part of the Hudson River that ice-houses begin to 
attract attention, that at Marlborough being the first of a long 
line of immense storehouses that line the banks of the river, 
especially on the western side, all the way to the head of naviga- 
tion, and which form a feature of the scenery more conspicuous 
than ornamental. These are the storehouses in which the gar- 
nered harvest of the river is stored, to be sent to New York and 
other cities, in barges, as it is needed; and the Hudson is the 
great highway to the market. 
9 



130 NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 

"No man sows," writes John Burroughs, "yet many men 
reap a harvest from the Hudson. Not the least important is the 
ice harvest, which is eagerly looked for and counted upon by 
hundreds, yes thousands, of laboring-men along its course. Ice 
or no ice sometimes means bread or no bread to scores of fami- 
lies, and it means added or diminished comfort to many more. 
It is a crop that takes two or three weeks of rugged weather to 
grow, and, if the water is very roily or brackish, even longer. It 
is seldom worked till it presents seven or eight inches of clear- 
water ice. Men go out from time to time and examine it, as the 
farmer goes out and examines his grain or grass, to see when it 
will do to cut. If there comes a deep fall of snow^, the ice is 
' pricked' so as to let the water up through, and form snow ice. 
A band of fifteen or twenty men, about a yard apart, each armed 
with a chisel-bar, and marching in line, puncture the ice at each 
step with a single sharp thrust. To and fro they go, leaving a 
belt behind them that presently becomes saturated with water. 
But ice, to be first quality, must grow from beneath, not from 
above. It is a crop quite as uncertain as any other. A good 
yield every two or three years, as they say of wheat out West, is 
about all that can be counted upon. When there is an abundant 
harvest, after the ice-houses are filled, they stack great quantities 
of it, as the farmer stacks his surplus hay. Such a fruitful win- 
ter was that of '74-75, when the ice formed twenty inches thick. 
The stacks are given only a temporary covering of boards, and ' 
are the first ice removed in the season. 

" The cutting and gathering of the ice enlivens these broad, 
white, desolate fields amazingly. My house happens to stand 
where I look down upon the busy scene, as from a hilltop upon 
a liver meadow in haying time; only here the figures stand out 
much more sharply than they do from a summer meadow. There | 
is the broad, straight, blue-black canal emerging into view, and* 
running nearly across the river; this is the highway that lays 
open the farm. On either side lie the fields or ice meadows, each 
marked out by cedar or hemlock boughs. The further one is cut 
first, and, when cleared, shows a large, long, black parallelogram 
in the midst of the plain of snow. Then the next one is cut, 
leaving a strip or tongue of ice betw^een the two for the horses to 
move and turn upon. Sometimes nearly two hundred men and 
boys, with numerous horses, are at w^ork at once, marking, plowing, 
planing, scraping, sawing, hauling, chiseling; some floating down 
the pond on great square islands towed by a horse or their fellow 
workmen; others distributed along the canal, bending to their ice- 
hooks; others upon the bridges, separating the blocks with their 
chisel-bars; others feeding the elevators; while knots and strag- 
gling lines of idlers here and there look on in cold discontent, 
unable to get a job. 

" The best crop of ice is an early crop. Late in the season, or 
after January, the ice is apt to get * sun-struck,' when it becomes 



« 



NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 131 

* shaky,' like a piece of poor timber. Tlie sun, when he sets 
about destroying the ice, does not simply melt it from the surface 
— that were a slow process; but he sends his shafts into it and 
separates it into spikes and needles — in short, makes kindling- 
wood of it, so as to consume it the quicker. 

' ' One of the prettiest sights about the ice harvesting is the eleva- 
tor in operation " [lifting the ice into the storehouse]. " When all 
works well there is an unbroken procession of the great crystal 
blocks slowly ascending this incline. They go up in couples, arm in 
arm, as it were, like friends up a stairway, glowing and changing 
in the sun, and recalling the precious stones that adorn the walls 
of the celestial city. When they reach the platform M^here they 
leave the elevator, they seem to slip off like things of life and voli- 
tion; they are still in pairs, and separate only as they enter upon 
their 'runs.' But here they have an ordeal to pass through, for 
they are subjected to a rapid inspection, and the black sheep are 
separated from the flock; every square with a trace of sediment or 
earth-stain in it, whose texture is not the perfect and unclouded 
crystal, is rejected and sent hurling down into the abyss; a man 
with a sharp eye in his head, and a sharp ice-hook in his hand, 
picks out the impure nnd fragmentary ones as they come along, 
and sends them quickly overboard. Those that pass the exami- 
nation glide into the building along the gentle incline, and are 
switched off here and there upon branch runs, and distributed to 
all parts of the immense interior." 

This business is one of the largest and most remarkable indus- 
tries of the Hudson River and vicinity, the tonnage alone 
! amounting in storage capacity to nearly three millions of tons 
yearly. Of this immense quantity, the Knickerbocker Ice Com- 
pany of New York — to whose treasurer, Mr. S. O. Reeves, the 
writer is indebted for these statistics — stores fully one-half. The 
industry affords employment during the ice-harvesting season to 
great numbers of men, and that mainly in the season when no 
other occupation is available to the laboring classes in the river 
1 counties, as many as 15,000 or 20,000 men being employed 
at times, when the harvesting is active, and the work goes 
on uninterruptedly. The time occupied in gathering this 
j enormous quantity is necessarily lengthy, averaging thirty days in 
. the season, much of the time being needed for snow-scraping and 
\ "cultivating" the ice, preparatory to housing it. The revenue 
j thus derived from the ice dealers forms an important factor in the 
1 general interests of trade along the Hudson Yalley, where no 
, worse disaster, commercially, could happen than a failure of the 
j crop. The business in this section was inaugurated in 1831, when 
I 11 



132 NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 

ice was first taken to New York City from Rockland Lake, as has 
already been stated. 

" The hole in the ground, in which the beginners tried to keep 
their ice from melting, has given way to these immense store- 
houses, holding variously from 7,000 to 70,000 tons, and upward. 
The hand-wagon has given way to the large and expensive 
spring-wagon, over 600 of which are in daily use by the Knicker- 
bocker Ice Company alone, and probably as many more by the rest 
of the ice dealers in New York City and vicinity; the freighting 
by sloop has given way to a wonderful fleet of ice-barges, 
especially built and adapted for the carrying and preservation of 
ice in transitu, and many tugs whose ponderous tows render the 
scene on the river picturesque, night and day. The capital has 
grown from the first $2,000, invested in 1830 at Rockland Lake, 
to upward of $5,000,000, in New York City, Brooklyn, and 
adjacent places. From such small beginnings has the ice indus- 
try augmented until it now challenges comparison with the ton- 
nage importation of all other foreign or domestic commercial 
industries whose mart is the great metropolis of the New World." 

Long before this, the great cantilever bridge spanning the 
river at Poughkeepsie has excited admiration in every eye, for its 
delicate lines do not disturb the beauty of the landscape. 

The corner-stone of this bridge was laid as early as 1873, but 
construction proceeded no farther at that time. It was re-begun 
in September, 1886, and was finished January 1, 1889. The 
builder was the Union Bridge Company. It is entirely for rail- 
way service, and has a double track, with a foot-path which is not 
yet open to the public. The bridge is 12,608 feet, or about 2^ 
miles, long, reaching from highland to highland, at an elevation 
of 212 feet above the water. One or two athletes, seeking money 
and notoriety, have allowed themselves to drop from its center, 
and survived the foolhardy feat. The breadth of the river under 
the bridge is 6,767 feet from pier to pier. The cost was about 
$3,500,000, and the present owner is a company operating in the 
interest of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Co. 

Presently the spires and southern suburbs of Poughkeepsie 
appear on the eastern shore; and here, one house, standing between 
the river and the highway in a fine open spot where its square 
central tower is readily perceived, should not be overlooked, 
since it is " Locust Grove," once the home of Prof. 8. F. B. Morse, 
who made practicable for us the invention of the electric tele- 
graph. The great Kaal Rock is passed, where tradition says the 
early burghers of the town used to sit, and hail the sloops for 
news as they drifted by, and which is now crowned with the old 




jg! 



NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 133 

brick buildings of Matthew Vassar's first brewery, whence, after a 
while came the hospital, the young ladies' college, and other good 
works of t.iat genial philanthropist; and the steamer slows up 
under the shadow of the great bridge at the bustling wharf of 

Poughkeepsie. — Poughkeepsie (pronounced Po-kip-sie), sit- 
uated advantageously about half-way between New York and 
Albany, is referred to by local chroniclers as the " Queen City of 
tlie Hudson." Its population is reported at about 24,000, which 
is said now to be a trifle less than Newburgh's, From its 
foundation by the Dutch as a village, at the end of the last 
century, Poughkeepsie has always been a leading point on the 
river as a business and social center. The State Legislature met 
in it in 1777 and 1778, when the British held New York; and here 
also the State Convention for the ratification of the Federal Con- 
stitution met, holding debates in which Gov, Clinton, John Jay, 
and Alexander Hamilton took part. It is the shire town of 
Dutchess County; and it has attracted to it, and maintained, an 
average quality of citizenship and sociality that is not surpassed 
by any other town in the State. In fact, the society has been of 
so high an order, and so secure in wealth, or competence, that at 
times its preference for home-like ease over dashing activity has 
been thought a barrier to the rapid business progress the town 
might have secured; but this tendency is not so apparent now. 
The community in some directions was never laggard, however. 
It was early at the front in the educational line, and has always 
been noted for the number and character of its different schools. 
Among those which now exist are Vassar College^ the first institution 
which gave to girls the advantages of a complete liberal educa- 
tion, and Eastman College, a pioneer in the commercial field. Both 
these schools hold their high rank and celebrity undiminished, 
both for the number of their students and for the fact that almost 
all the nations of the world contribute to the names on their cata- 
logues. 

Vassar College, named after its munificent founder, Mat- 
thew Vassar, is, indeed, the most widely known fact in connection 
with the city. It occupies a series of large brick buildings in the 
midst of an extensive and beautiful park, on high ground, two 
miles back from the river; and can not be seen from either the 
boats or railway, the imposing building on an eminence in the 
rear of the city, usually supposed to be its building, being a 



134 NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 

former scliool-house, now otherwise occupied. The Main Street 
horse-cars go out to the college every forty minutes (fare 10 cents). 
Apart from the general interest of the institution, its library and | 
natural history and art museums are well worth a visit. The 
zoological collection, mainly the work of the late Prof. James 
Orton, is unusually large and instructive; it is strong in ornithol- 
ogy, more especially in the birds of South America, where Orton 
became famous as a scientific explorer, and wrote one of the fore- 
most books upon the Amazon region. 

Eastman Park — beautiful gardens open to the public — is an 
ornament to the city which should be seen. The city also pos- 
sesses a capital Public Library, for both reference and circula- 
tion, with a reading-room attached, and an annex devoted to law- 
books — a department rarely to be found in such an institution. 
There are also a Young Men's and a Young "Women's Christian 
Association, in the former of which the reading-room is a popular 
feature. Vassar Brothers' Institute is a worthy foundation endowed 
for scientific and literary culture. There are also a number of clubs 
and club-houses, of which the Amrita, the Duchess, and the Bicycle 
Club are the most conspicuous. Other institutions are various 
religious and benevolent organizations, and the Vassar Hospital, 
conspicuous from the river upon a hillock in the southern part of 
the city, which is described as " one of the most completely 
equipped and liberally endowed in the country." The churches are 
numerous, and represent all the chief denominations. There is an 
opera-house accommodating 2,200 people — which John B. Gougli 
called the most interesting audience-room of its size he had ever 
seen — and other public halls. The militia have a fine armory. 

Journalism has always flourished in Poughkeepsie. Four 
daily newspapers, which also issue weeklies, are now published, 
and one semi-weekly and two Sunday papers. 

The street-railway system connects the railroad stations, steam- 
boat landing, and Vassar College, reaches the northern suburbs, 
and extends south along Broadway to Wappingers Falls (see 
page 136). These trolley-cars pass the court-house and go near the 
public library and the principal hotels— Nelson and Morgan 
houses (single fare, 10 cents; five tickets for 25 cents). 

The water of the city is taken from the Hudson, far out from 
shore, is thoroughly filtered, and is believed to be as good as any 
city can hope to procure. The sewerage system, owing to the 
topography of the city's site, is absolutely perfect, and much care 



NEWBURGH TO POUGIIKEEPSIE. 135 

is taken to keep it so. Consequently, Poughkeepsie is a very 
healthful town. The city is lighted by electric lamps at intervals 
of 500 feet in all the streets, and has incandescent lights and gas 
for in-door service. Within a few years the erection of a Driving 
Track and the removal of the Dutchess County Fair from the 
center of tlie county to this city has added a new and welcome 
feature. Driving for amusement is, indeed, one of the foremost 
pleasures of life here, as in other towns on this side of the Hudson, 
where the splendid roads are suitable for speeding; and inspiring 
landscapes and the sight of fine estates lend a varying interest 
to any excursion, especially on the Hyde Park and the Fishkill 
roads. In the winter this place is the headquarters of Ice Boating, 
and its craft in that line are unsurpassed for beauty and speed. 
The free space on the river here, and the extended view one 
obtains of it — both to the north and south — are aids in making it 
a select place for this sport. Thirteen miles east of Pough- 
keepsie, and a station on the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut 
Railroad, is Millbrook, a summer resort of people of note and 
wealth, which has made the farm land there worth in many 
places $3,000 and upward an acre. It is fast becoming another 
Lenox. 

Poughkeepsie has a considerable wholesale trade, and its 
manufactures are constantly increasing. This is due to its 
favorable situation as respects both water and land lines of trans- 
portation. Four steamboat lines furnish passage to New York, 
two to Albany, two to Newburgh, and two to Kingston. The 
river is navigable to these whnrves for the largest vessels, and the 
river freight-boats have always been well patronized. Small 
steamboats make frequent trips between Poughkeepsie and the 
various little landings along the river, northward to Rondout and 
southward as far as Newburgh. A steam-ferry connects the city 
with Highland, opposite, where country roads concentrate at an 
old village landing. 

Poughkeepsie is the principal station, between New York and 
Albany, on the Hudson River Railroad, all express trains stop- 
ping here, and many of them for that 10-minute lunch in the 
station restaurant so familiar to travelers. The completion of the 
great bridge has brought here two branches of the New York 
& New England Railroad system, which now runs trains eastward 
across the bridge into the coal regions of Pennsylvania, in con- 
nection with the Philadelphia & Reading system. Another rail- 
way is in course of construction southeastward. By means of 
this bridge and the connecting railroads, coal has been reduced to 
the lowest figure, many new markets opened to Poughkeepsie's 
merchants and manufacturers, and a great impetus given to the 
city's growth and prosperity. 



136 NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE. 



^ 



The Buckeye Mower is perhaps the most famous article made 
here, and it is sold all over the world. Added to this great fac- 
tory, are the Phoenix Horse-Shoe Works, an iron works, a glass 
works, two large shoe factories, Lane Bros.' door hangings and 
coffee-mill concern, the Fall Kill Knitting Works, a silk thread 
factory, and a large number of small miscellaneous shops, includ- 
ing that of the De Laval Separator Company, which makes a 
peculiar machine for the separation of cream from milk, and also 
a somewhat remarkable churn; it came to Poughkeepsie from 
Sweden, and is giving much enterprise to its new work here. 

The city contains six excellent banks and one savings bank, 
and long-distance telephones connect it with Albany and New 
York. 

Wappingers Falls. — A delightful excursion from Pough- 
keepsie in summer is a trip in an open trolley-car over the 
electric railroad to Wappingers Falls. The distance is about 
seven miles (south), and the whole route is along the old Albany 
Post Road, which is known here, as usual, as Broadway. It 
winds about in pleasant irregularities, between stone walls and 
rows of ancient shade-trees, and past fine suburban estates 
and cozy farm houses. The suburbs of Poughkeepsie are 
interesting in all directions. The road lies too far back from 
the Hudson to permit the river itself to be seen, but the hills on 
its further shore form a beautiful background to the nearer 
picture. In the outskirts of the city a park and rural cemetery 
are passed. Wappingers Falls is a large old-fashioned village on 
both sides of Wappingers Creek (see page 128) at a point, some 
two and a half miles above its mouth at New Hamburgh, where 
the stream falls over a series of high ledges and dams, behind 
which is a considerable lake. The steep walls of the ravine, the 
arched stone bridge, the mill races that have been carved out 
long ago, and the ruins of some ancient mills lend picturesque- 
ness to a spot already highly endowed in that respect. Many 
factories line the stream below the falls, and the village is also of 
importance as a market town, and interesting socially and histori- 
cally. The run is made in about thirty-five minutes, and the 
%re is 15 cents each way. 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 

As Poughkeepsie is left behind, the huge red buildings of the 
Hudson River State Hospital become conspicuous upon the hills 
along the Hyde Park road, north of the city. Here are received 
those of Unbalanced minds, to be kept and nursed until restored 
to health or else proved incurably insane. Large as it is, this is 
only the beginning of what must finally be one of the largest asy- 
lums in the world. It now shelters several hundred inmates. The 
pumping station of the city waterworks is seen near the liver 
bank, whence the water is forced into a distributing reservoir on 
College Hill. 

The bank opposite Poughkeepsie is very high and precipitous, 
but it is broken just above the bridge by a narrow wooded ravine, 
at the mouth of which is the railway station of Highland, and a 
ferry and steamboat landing. A little above, some warehouses 
mark the position of the old New Paltz Landing, where the farm- 
ers of the Wallkill Valley were wont "to come in former days to 
cross to Poughkeepsie or meet the sloops and steamboats. Up the 
ravine goes the old road to Highland Village, a thriving settlement 
on the plateau, which is thronged with visitors in summer, and is 
the principal provisioning place for a wide area of farms and rural 
villages on that side of the river. It is a pleasant walk up to the 
village along the ravine, down which the creek comes in one 
long, winding rapid, with here and there a tall waterfall over 
some dam, which turns, or once turned, a small mill-wheel. 
Milling is still one of the chief industries of the pretty little 
town, where there are two small but comfortable hotels. A stage 
(fare, 10 cents) makes half-hourly trips between the village and 
the river-side, meeting all trains and boats. Highland is also a 
station on the Connecticut, New York & New England Railroad, 
near the western terminus of the big bridge. The large yellow 
building seen upon the brow of the bluff overlooking the land- 
ing is Hasbrouck's Bellevue Villa, a summer hotel. 

The Eastern Shore is much less steep and high than the 
western, and for the next thirty miles, in particular, it is dotted 

(137) 



138 POUGHKEEPSTE TO KINGSTON. 

with old estates and costly, handsome, and often historic resi- 
dences. To this purpose the shore is well adapted, for it rises, not 
too abruptly for effective landscape gardening, to a plateau about 
one hundred feet above the water, where the houses stand upon a 
uniform level. It is upon this plateau, too, that the villages are 
situated, out of sight, along the old post road, with insignificant 
railway stations and landings down by the water-side, a fortunate 
disposition of things for the scenery of the noble river. 

The roughness of the western bank culminates ahead, as 
Poughkeepsie is left behind, in bold and shaggy headlands, form- 
ing a promontory around which the river bends just far enough 
westward to cut off the view. This slight bend, eighty miles 
from New York, the river men call Krum Elbow (the original 
Dutch name w;is Krom-me Hoek — a rounded point), and, as the 
steamer imperceptibly swings around it, a broad reach gradually 
opens almost as far as Rhinebeck, and there appear, in blue sil- 
houette ahead, the eastern peaks of the Catskill Mountains, 
some thirty miles distant. They will rarely be out of sight, 
henceforth, for several hours; but, before reaching their base, 
many things of nearer interest will engage the attention, always 
with that beautiful background made by the heights of Rip Van 
Winkle's story. 

Here on the right, five miles above Poughkeepsie, comes 
Hyde Park, the road from the station leading up the gorge of 
Krum Elbow Creek to the village, half-a-mile inland. It is an 
old place, named in honor of Sir Edward Hyde, one of the early 
English governors of the province; and years ago there was 
here, where now stands the railway station, a horse-power ferry 
for the accommodation of the people on the western shore. 

The heights of Crum Elbow having been passed, the Western 
Shore becomes more habitable, and the fine river-road is lined 
with handsome places that face the water. The woods disappear, 
too, and the sloping shore is cultivated in vineyards and fruit 
orchards. Behind this gracious forefront towers the saddle- 
backed eminence called Mount Hymettus by John Burroughs, 
"an author and naturalist of pleasant fame" (whose cottage will 
presently come into view), because of his success in finding upon 
it bee-trees and stores of wild honey. Mount Hymettus stretches 
northward in lessening elevations, all wooded to their summits. 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 139 

and known as the Esopus Hills. At its base is seen, among 
private residences, the tall white Manresa Institute, formerly a 
Roman Catholic theological seminary, but now an orphanage. 
North of this, there intervenes between the hills and the river a 
broad space of arable lands holding several villages. The first of 
these is West Park, from whose pretty river-landing {Frothing- 
ham's Dock), directly opposite Hyde Park, a most romantic lane 
leads up to the turnpike. This is a stopping-place of the steamer 
plying between New York and Saugerties. 

West Park is a delightful spot, where a village is gradually 
arising. The old post road runs along the brow of the terrace 
between ranks of grand shade-trees, and bordered by fine country 
places. The little Episcopal Cliurch of the Ascension — a stone 
building overgrown with vinery — fitly recalls the rural churches 
of England; and a queer little mill brings out the sketch-book of 
every artist who strays near it. One of the oldest of the neigh- 
boring estates is that formerly occupied by the Astors — a large 
house of the English style, in spacious grounds, now owned and 
occupied by a New York maltster. This road is good for bicycles, 
though somewhat hilly, and is admirable for walking or driving. 

The Hudson is here very beautiful and interesting. Looking 
backward, one can still obtain a glimpse of the spires of Pough- 
keepsie, and of a small section of its bridge, traced in hair-lines 
upon the pale blue front of the Fishkill Mountains, twenty miles 
away. Ahead, the Catskills are coming more and more plainly 
into the perspective, and each bank attracts the roving eye with 
competing charms. My own impression is, that this section from 
Poughkeepsie to Catskill is the most pleasing part of the whole 
river, even though it lacks the majestic scenery of the Highlands. 

Conspicuous just above Hyde Park landing, standing upon 
the smooth, grassy terrace, between ancient oaks and elms, is the 
palatial residence of F. W. Vanderbilt — one of the most costly in 
the long line of noble river-side properties. Next above it is the 
Drayton House, the old Kirkpatrick estate; and directly opposite, 
on the West Park shore, and behind and slightly above some 
enormous ice-houses, is seen the stone cottage of Mr. John 
Burroughs, the writer of such familiar out-door books as Wake 
Robin, Birds and Poets, Pepacton, etc., and many acute and pleas- 
ing essays in literary criticism. Many acres of vineyards and 
orchards lie in front of the house, as along all this western side 



140 POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 

of the river; and Mr. Burroughs and his neighbors ship great 
quantities of table grapes, currants, and small fruits to New York 
and Boston. A mile above, on the same side, is the immense and 
much-advertised orchard (said to contain 25,000 trees) of the 
late R, L. Pell, who sent apples to Queen Victoria — canny man! — 
and so made a good market for his fruit in Great Britain. His 
wharf {Pelham) is distinguished by its big stone warehouse with 
iron gates. 

Opposite it, on the eastern bank, and about a mile above Hyde 
Park, a quaint, chalet -like house appears among the trees on the 
distant terrace. This place is called " Gros Bois" by its present 
proprietor, Robert T. Lord; but it derives a greater interest from 
the fact that years ago it was "Placentia," the home of the 
gifted James K. Paulding, a literary man who published many 
and varied books, until his death in 1860. He was one of that 
coterie of bright minds that clustered about Washington Irving, 
and was his associate in the publication of Salmagundi. 

The little island met here, usually animated in summer by the 
camps of canoeists or fishermen, is Esopus; and just above it, on 
the western bank, is the landing (Broicji's Dock) for Esopus Village, 
an old-time cross-roads hamlet a mile and a half back. It stands 
on the shore of Black Creek, w^hose outlet, here at the landing, is 
almost hidden in lilj^-pads and masses of blossoms of the spiked 
loosestrife — a tall water weed, naturalized from Europe, which' 
sprouts densely in the shallow coves all along the Hudson, encir- 
cling their margins with bands of bright magenta pink, amid 
which glow here and there the more fiery standards of the 
cardinal flower. 

Black Greek is a lively little river that merits its name, for its 
water is stained with the roots and bark of hemlock and cedar 
until it looks like an outlet of the juniper jungles of the Dismal 
Swamp. It rises down beyond Marlborough, and flows north, 
behind Mount Hymettus, expanding into a pond which the Dutch 
called Grote Binnewater ("Big Pond') and the moderns name 
Black Pond, and frets its way down innumerable waterfalls 
and through deeps and shadows until it escapes here at Esopus 
Village. It contains a fair quantity of black bass, perch, and 
sunfish, harbors a good many copperheads, and still turns the 
wheels of small mills, hidden away in the brush, as it used to do in 
the good old days of the Dutch. The road which leads back 
over the hills from West Park strikes it in its most picturesque 
part. 



iS^ 




KAATERSKILL FALLS 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 141 

The name "Esopus" is one that is met with often and rather 
confusingly in this part of the country. The hills on the west 
take the appellation, and the island opposite, but the marshy 
Esopus Meadows are some three miles north of Esopus Light- 
house. Esopus Village and landing are here at the mouth of 
Black Creek; while Esopus Creek empties into the Hudson 
twenty miles north at Saugerties; and Rondout Creek, at Kondout, 
used to be called the Little Esopus. 

This confusion arises, as will be clear when the history of 
Kingston is read, from the fact that in early colonial days the 
whole district on the western side of the river, of which Kings- 
ton was the center, was known as Esopus — a Dutch and English 
corruption of an Indian word, the earliest spelling of which was 
Desopus. 

By this time, Krum Elbow has blotted out the Poughkeepsie 
bridge and the southern highlands, Mount Hymettus is well 
behind us on the west, and its continuation, the Shaiqjeneak, and 
Hussey's Mountain are becoming prominent. The eastern 
shore is lower than heretofore and better cultivated, and the 
Hudson River Railroad disappears behind a bluff where the 
little village of Staalshurgh is hidden from view; its landing is 
indicated by ice-houses. Just beyond, Esopus Light-house marks 
the outer edge of the weedy shoals called Esopus Meadows, oppo- 
site which, on the eastern shore, is Dinsmore's Point, with the 
large yellow mansion of the late William B. Dinsmore behind it, 
where the river indents the eastern shore with the wide shallows 
of Vanderberg Cove. Immediately upon this cove, in a bouse 
on the end of the ridge, dwells the brewer, Jacob Rupert; and 
next above him another New Yoik brewer, Finck, occupying a 
great white stone mansion overlooking an immense lawn. This 
is " Wildercliffe," formerly the estate of Edward R. Jones. A 
little farther on, and nearer the river, is the house of Robert Suck- 
ley; and next beyond, just above the railway tunnel, is "Ellerslie " 
once the residence of the Hon. William Kelly — long prominent in 
political life — and now the summer home of ex-Vice-President 
Levi P. Morton. His estate contains about six hundred acres, 
much of which is devoted to gardens and ornamental grounds, 
and the rest is highly cultivated as a farm. 

A magnificent view of the Catskill Mountains is now presented. 
The passenger sees here the whole eastern series, from Overlook 
to where the Mountain House gazes down from its storied ledges. 
They are too far away and misty to exhibit details, but the lofty 



142 POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 

and well-chiseled outlines culminating in High Peak, the stately 
grouping beyond the foreground of water, and the long sweep of 
swelling outlines, cumulative contours leading the eye artistically 
to the center of the picture, with the dull red and gray of Ron- 
dout's buildings in the middle distance, make a composition as 
pleasing in arrangement as it is vivid in color. Nor is the ele- 
ment of " life" wanting, for the shimmering foreground is dotted 
with boats, sailing-craft and steamers, from some natty sloop- 
yacht or huge ' ' day-liner " to a laboring old steam canalboat 
bound for Buffalo or bringing coal from Scranton. Sometimes a, 
dingy little steam launch may be seen, loaded fore and aft with! 
eatables — a regular floating market. Piled high on top of the] 
pilot-house may be cabbages and corn, or other green truck, 
while the entire space in front is often filled with loaves of bread, 
and the space amidships, sheltered by an awning, may contain a 
heap of ice. A shelf runs along the low bulwarks, and it will 
perhaps be covered with fruits and vegetables whose trailing 
leaves ripple the water as the boat skims from shore to shore, or 
runs alongside a tow of canalboats, seeking for trade. 

The rough crags of Hussey's Mountain, 1,000 feet high, are now 
at hand on the west, with the brick yards and ice-houses of Port 
Ewen at its base; and there presently opens beyond it a river, 
gorge crowded with shipping, and lined with buildings. This is * 
Rondout Creek and harbor, and 

The City of Kingston. — Originally, as will presently be 
noted, two flourishing towns grew up here in close contiguity — 
Bondout, at the river mouth, and Kingston, whose nucleus was 
three miles inland. Both increased in size until their borders 
nearly touched, whereupon they united (1878) as a corporate city, 
under the name of the latter. 

Kingston has now a population of about 25,000, is growing 
steadily, and has a strong commercial foundation. It is the most 
important station on the West Shore Railroad between Wee- 
hawken and Albany, and the eastern terminus of the Ulster & 
Delaware Railroad, and of the Wallkill Valley Railroad, the lat- 
ter connecting it with the Erie Railroad system at Goshen, N. Y. 
These three roads have a union station in the center of the 
town, 13^ miles from the landing, besides which the Ulster & 
Delaware sends its trains down to the steamboat wharf at 
Rondout as the port town and local postofflce is still familiarly 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 143 

called. The steam-ferry (fare, 13 cents) to RhinecUff, on the 
opposite bank of the Hudson, connects the town with the Hudson 
River Railroad, and with the Hartford & Connecticut Western 
Railroad, which gives a direct line into Dutchess County and east- 
ward to New England. Arrangements are nearly completed for 
the building of a new railroad, to be called "Philadelphia & 
New England," between Kingston and Ellenville, forming, with 
existing roads and a "link " or two to be constructed, a short and 
direct line, byway of Port Jervis, to Philadelphia and the Pennsyl- 
vania coal regions. Great things are anticipated from this new 
enterprise. Rondout is also the terminus of the Delaware & Hud- 
son Canal, and is the most important shipping-point on the whole 
river above New York. The Albany Day Line boats do not go 
into the river mouth, but receive and deliver passengers at the 
new wharves on Kingston Point, to which the railway has been 
extended. Kingston has, besides, several steamer lines of its 
own. This is the home and terminal port of that fast and favor- 
ite boat, Mary Powell, which has long been the queen of the 
Hudson. Here, also, are owned the steamers James W. Baldicin and 
William F. Homer, which are among the largest steamers on the 
river, and afford a daily night-line between Rondout and New 
York. The Newburgh day-line makes this a port-of-call, daily; 
and there are small steamers which pass back and forth between 
Kingston and Poughkeepsie, southward, and Saugerties north- 
ward, stopping anywhere, on both sides of the river, that passen- 
gers wish to land or embark, or any freight is offered. Lastl}^ 
this is the headquarters of the Cornell Steamboat Company, 
which owns about forty-five towboats and tugs, and is one of the 
largest concerns in the towing business. 

These varied means of transportation have made Kingston- 
Rondout a place of much commercial importance, and are 
encouraging the rise of manufactures. Three great industries 
are prominent: cement-making, hluestone, and coal-sliipping . 

CEMENT AND CEMENT-MAKING, BLUESTONE, ETC. 

The mining and manufacture of hydraulic cement, known 
more especially as Rosendale cement, from the suburb up the 
Rondout where it was first produced, is the peculiar industry 
of the locality. One can not fail to notice the openings of great 
caverns, picturesquely overhung with vines and shrubbery, in the 
cliffs above the harbor, and along the high banks of Rondout 
Creek. They reach far underground, and out of them, in hot 
weather, pours a draft of air as strong and chill and damp as that 
blown from the cavernous cheeks of old Boreas himself. Out of 
12 



144 POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. ^m 

these old excavations, and from newer mines, Kingston lias dug, 
and continues to dig, a large part of its wealth, and has built up 
an industry which brings in $2,500,000 annually, and furnishes 
employment to more than 2,000 men, besides the army of coopers, 
boatmen, etc., indirectly benefited. 

This cement is water-lime, or the material for hydraulic mortar 
— that is, a mortar which will harden under water. It is made 
from a magnesian limestone, containing more or less sand and 
clay, thus approximating it to the European artificial mixture of. 
23 per cent carbonate of lime (chalk) and 77 per cent silicate of 
alumina (clay), which is called Portland cement. When, about 
1828, the Delaware & Hudson Canal was building here, the 
engineers, casting about for a cement suitable for use in con- 
structing locks, discovered that a belter kind existed right here 
than was then known in the western part of the State; and the 
mining of it upon the outcrop for immediate use soon developed 
into a general industry. Since then a similar cement-rock has 
been discovered and worked in the neighborhood of Buffalo, 
opposite Louisville, Ky. , and near Allentown, Pa. At Allentown, 
in addition to the natural product, they are making an artificial 
" Portland" cement. In all these localities the rock is the very 
ancient Upper Silurian limestone. Here at Kingston, the partic- 
ular geological horizon is the Tentaculite, or water-lime, division 
of the Lower Helderberg series, which overlies the great Niagara 
group of limestones. The beds are massive, varying from fif- 
teen to thirty feet in thickness, and more or less interstratified 
with non-cementitious layers. They have been much disturbed, 
lie at all sorts of angles, and are broken here and there by faults. 

For the most part, only the edges appear at the surface, so 
that the rock must be removed by methods of mining similar to 
those pursued in excavating coal, rather than by quarrying, and 
many of the tunnels and shafts penetrate to the heart of the hills, 
and are sunk more than 100 feet below tide- water. The rock is 
somewhat harder to mine than coal, but there is no danger from 
liberated gases, and the roof is firm, requiring little timbering. 

The Upper Silurian rocks everywhere, as a rule, are crowded 
with the fossil remains of invertebrate sea life, as corals, crinoids, 
and a great variety of shellfish. In the series to which the 
cement-rock belongs, as it appears elsewhere, tentaculites (fossil 
pteropods of the molluscan family Tentaculitidce) are especially 
numerous, and give their name to the subdivision; but, curiously 
enough, the cement-beds here are almost entirely barren of these 
or any other fossils, although the adjacent, and even the inter- 
calated, strata are highly fossiliferous. 

The rock itself, no matter how finely crushed, will not act as a 
hydraulic cement, or even as a good mortar; it needs preparation to 
impart to it its valuable quality. This preparation consists in 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 145 

roasting or calcining it. The area of the beds is about ten miles 
in length, extending along a ridge from the northern part of 
Kingston, or its suburb Rosendale, southwestward, with a width 
varying from forty feet to five miles; and fifteen mills are now in 
operation, of wliich those of the Lawrence and Newark companies 
are the largest. At each of these establishments the rock is 
brought from the mines in cars, crushed into small pieces, and 
then placed in huge kilns, mixed with fine coal. The kilns 
having once been fired, the process of roasting the mass goes on 
continuously, new supplies being poured into the top as the 
calcined stone is removed at the base. When cooled, crushed, 
and placed in barrels the cement is ready for use. 

The process and character of the change, presumably chem- 
ical, which the stone undergoes in turning into cement are not 
clearly understood. Many theories have been advanced, but 
none are satisfactory. Beyond the fact that the calcining drives 
off the water, little is really known about the matter; and the 
hydraulicity of this substance is another one of the many facts of 
practical experience and utility which remains unexplained. 

This cement is sold all over the Atlantic States, and the 
extent and variety of its service are increasing. Not only is it 
required for all masonry exposed to water, as sea-walls, canal- 
locks, bridge-piers, and the like, but it is used almost entirely for 
every sort of underground masonry. It is the principal constitu- 
ent of " concrete." The foundations of all the great buildings in 
New York are laid on it, and it is extensively applied in 
fortifications. Its strength and tenacity are far superior to that of 
the best mortar. When treated with water in the mass, it forms 
a stone more cohesive and trustworthy than ordinary sandstone. 

The 3,000,000 or so of barrels annually required by this in- 
dustry are made largely in this neighborhood, and cost only 10 
cents apiece; they are formed mainly of spruce-wood, and are 
usually thrown away when emptied. 

Coal at Kingston. — The total amount of coal reaching tide- 
water here, from the canal, now averages about 900,000 tons 
during the season of navigation, nearly all of which is immediately 
reshipped. All of it comes from the anthracite fields in the 
Wyoming Yalley of Pennsylvania, and its transshipment here 
gives employment, on the average, to 350 men, with a large 
increase of that force at certain times. The storage docks for 
coal are the largest in the State. 

Bluestone is the name given to a more or less argillaceous 
sandstone of a bluish color, extensively quarried at various points 
along the Hudson River, and used for building purposes and for 
flagging. The quarries are scattered throughout the Catskills 
and along their base, and are in rock of Lower Silurian Age (Hud- 
son River group), and the stone is brought in, rudely shaped, by 
railway and by teams. The double line of stones set like a 
tramway in many of the country roads and some town streets on 



146 POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 'MM 

this side of the river, are to enable the horses to draw these loads 
of stone without sinking irretrievably into the mud; and they are 
as deeply rutted as the old chariot-tracks in Pompeii. The 
bluestone is to a great extent prepared for architectural or pave- 
ment use here in Rondout, and then reshipped by water, some 
of it going direct to Southern coast cities, the West Indies, etc. 
This industry involves a large capital and employs many men. 

The Rondout end of the city, apart from the picturesqueness 
of its river-mouth, is not very interesting. The queer little 
chain-ferry that plies between the city and Sleightburgh, on the 
southern bank, is quaint and ingenious, and gave Jervis McEntee 
a subject for a well-known painting. Huntington's brush has 
studied here, too, his painting, "On the Rondout," being con- 
sidered one of his best, A little steam launch runs up the river 
and canal some miles, offering an interesting excursion to the 
visitor. Rondout's best street lies along the top of the river's 
high southern bank; the leading hotel is the old Mansion House. 

The northern part of the town, or Kingston proper, is more 
attractive. It is a handsome, well-kept little city of itself, where 
every street and square can tell some story of the past which 
somehow seems longer ago than tlie seige of Jerusalem, Its 
streets give glimpses of the Catskill and Shawangunk mountains, 
or of sweet valley lands in all directions, and from its suburban 
eminences pictures may be obtained that are among the most 
charming in the Hudson Valley, 

One point of view is especially recommended, and may form 
the objective point of a delightful afternoon's walk. This is tbe 
Kiiyckuyet (a Dutch word pronounced kake-out, and meaning 
"the lookout"), the summit of a hill south of the city. It over- 
looks the broad valleys of the Rondout and Hudson, and gives 
one the best local picture of the mountains. The abrupt heights 
surrounding Lake Mohonk, in the northern Shawangunks, are 
plain in the southeast; then comes the hilly valley of the Ron- 
dout, northward, rising again, directly west" into the magnificent 
heights of the southern Catskills, where Slide, Cornell, and the 
Witlemberg dominate the range. The break occupied by the 
valley of the Esopus cuts this lofty group off from the main 
mass, northward, where dozens of well-known summits may be 
recognized around to the headlands of High Peak and South 
Mountain in the northern horizon. 

Manufactures, etc. — Kingston has many small factories (one 
of cigars employing 700 hands), and does a very large business in 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 147 

the manufacture and sale of brick, though many of its yards are 
elsewhere along the river. The wholesale and jobbing trade of 
the town is good, and its streets are animated. The city contains 
five national banks and three savings banks; issues three daily 
new^spapers; has a public hospital, well-equipped fire and police 
departments, and water brought from a mountain stream with a 
pressure sufficient for fire purposes without the aid of steamers. 
The city hall is a florid brick building, of the aldermanic school 
of architecture, midway between Rondout and old Kingston, in 
front of which is a "manufactured" soldier's monument not 
much better. Electric street-cars extend from the river side in 
Rondout to Kingston by two routes, and thence into the outskirts 
of the village. A line is about to be built northward along the 
Albany road to Lake Katrine. 

Historical Sketch of Kingston. — Few towns in the State 
were more patriotic than this, and none have a more thrilling 
story, or so many substantial relics of the beginnings of the com- 
monwealth; and the visitor may find along its streets the actual 
buildings where many of the momentous incidents occuired that 
have been so fully recorded by Schoonmaker in his History of the 
town. 

It was in 1609 that Hudson sailed up the river; in 1610, the 
first trading-ship followed; and in 1675, the New Netherland 
Company chose the mouth of the Rondout Creek as tlie site of 
one of their three fortified trading-posts. No proper settlement 
was made, however, until the levtd-headed Stuyvesant had come 
as governor to New York to correct the abuses of his greedy 
predecessors, and disentangle the Dutch colonists from the Indian 
troubles which they had brought upon themselves. In 1652, 
quarrels arose in Rensselserwyck over lands, the aristocratic 
Patroons claiming too much for the "common people" to endure; 
and it must not be forgotten that these Dutchmen, as well as the 
English Puritans, were, to a great extent, refugees from oppres- 
sion, political and religious, in the Old Country; and were as 
deeply imbued with the spirit of liberty as their Protestant breth- 
ren in New England; nor that, if it had not been for the unswerv- 
ing patriotism and self-sacrificing co-operation of these Hollanders 
along the Hudson, the English born colonists could never have 
won in their struggle for independence with Great Britain ; and 
[this spirit and help were nowhere more active and serviceable 
1 than here. 

I In consequence of this quarrel with the Patroons, a band of 
I trader-colonists, led by Thomas Chambers, an Englishman, moved 



148 POUGHKEEPSIE TO KiNaSTON. 



I 



down to the level prairie lands wliicli the Indians called Atkarka/r- 
ton, lying along the Esopus between the mountains and the Hudson 
(see map), where the red men at first gave, and later sold, lands 
to I hem. Settlers rapidly followed, disagreements and fatal con- 
flicts with the Indians speedily arose, and. in 1658, Governor Stuy- 
vesant thought it worth while to visit the place, and advise with the 
people as to the future. He at once ordered the scattered farmers 
to come together and erect a stockade large enough to contain all 
their buildings, into which they were to concentrate each night. 
With a military eye, he selected a level bluff of land on the 
southern border of the meadows, where the banks fell steeply 
away on three sides, and there was just room enough for the 
intended fort. Here a strong stockade was built with great 
rapidity, and it inclosed the ground now occupied by the business 
part of old Kingston. A name w^as officially given to the stock- 
ade and community by Governor Stuyvesant, when a charter 
was granted in 1661; this was Wildwyck. "Wild" was the 
Dutch term for Indians, meaning simply wild, or savage, and 
" wyck" denotes "a place," so that, literally, Wildwyck signifies 
"Indian place." The name was changed to Kingston on Septem- 
ber 25, 1679, in honor of Kingston Lisle in England, the place 
from which Lovelace, the colonial governor of the moment, had 
come. It is a great misfortune that the change was made, and 
it is worth mention that " Wiltwick" still survives as applied to 
a portion of the city. 

The early history of the colony differs little from that of most 
others in those days. The burghers and farmers behaved badly 
toward the Indians, who revenged themselves, and years of bor- 
der warfare ensued, in which both sides suffered. These were 
the "Esopus wars," during which, nevertheless, the colony 
increased and flourished, having a good road to the redout* at 
the "slrand,"or river-mouth (present Main Street), and a little 
outpost at Hurley, with a large area of grain and corn lands under j 
cultivation. This post, indeed, was regarded as the garden of I 
the Dutch possessions; and from the first devoted itself almost | 
wholly to farming, paying little attention to the trading which 
engrossed Fort Orange and New Amsterdam. Finally, the wars 
culminated in an adroit seizure of the stockade by the redskins, 
who massacred a great many men, women, and children, and 
burned down all the houses. Then troops were sent from below, | 
an active campaign was instituted against the Indians, who were* 
hunted and punished far and near, and no more such disasters 
occurred; but many years elapsed before the district was safe 
from occasional inroads. Meanwhile, the country went into J 
English hands, and the name was changed to Kingston, but other- 1 
wise there was little alteration, and the settlement grew steadily | 



*It. is asserted that the name Rondout is a corruption of this word 
"redout" (there was another theie in revolutionary times); but that seems 
(re)doubtfal, and its origin is still obscure. 



IB 2 

J 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 149 

for a century, until it had become the most important place 
between New York and Albany, Then again its peace and 
prosperity were disturbed by the discontent among the Indians, 
that finally swelled into the French and Indian wars, in which 
the American colonists were trained to a soldier's life, taught their 
strength, and given self-confidence for the impending tight with 
Great Britain, 

Many of the houses still standing and occupied in Kingston 
date from this period. The monumental old Senate House, to be 
more particularly spoken of presently, is such an one. A part of 
the present Court House (Kingston is the shire town of Ulster) was 
built for that purpose long before the Revolution. Another relic 
is the Coonradt Elmeudorf Tavern, on the southeast corner of 
Maiden Lane and Fair Street, which bears the date of its erec- 
tion (1723) upon its gable; it witnessed memorable political deeds 
during the Revolution. At the lower end of Wall Street is the 
Van Steenhurgh House, not only an excellent example of the old 
Dutch cottage, but noteworthy as the only building which escaped 
at the burning of the town by the British in 1777. The present 
home of the Hon, Augustus Schoonmaker, the large square 
building at John and Crown streets, formerly the Kingston 
Academy, and other antiquated but still servicable structures 
may be pointed out, whose heavy walls withstood the historic 
conflagration. Another object of interest is the Dutch Glmrch, 
now remodeled out of all resemblance to the original structure, 
but standing on the same spot. 

Here was organized, in 1657, the oldest congregation holding 
an unbroken line of services on the same spot that can be found 
in the State of New York, and probably in the United States. It 
was, of course, Protestant Dutch Reformed, and the present 
structure is the fourth that has stood on the spot, not counting 
the log building which temporarily was used by the settlers in 
the beginning. The foundations, greatly extended to meet the 
growth of the congregation, have included part of the surround- 
ing grave-yard. The families whose past generations filled the 
first graves still worship in the church, and in the last reconstruc- 
tion of the edifice their pews were placed over the tombs of their 
ancestors, each family over its own dead. When the old Middle 
Dutch Church on Nassau Street, New York City, was torn down, 
the stones bearing the inscription in Dutch were taken to Kings- 
ton, and set in the walls of this church, where they now are. 
The church has the two original communion cups that were, 
according to tradition, presented by Queen Anne. The com- 



150 POUGHKEEPSrE TO KINGSTON. 

munion table is said to have been used by the Prince of Orange, 
whose coat-of-arms is over the church door, and the walls are 
covered with tablets commemorating the early pastors and distin- 
guished citizens who sat in the congregation. 

THE SENATE HOUSE. 

But the particular object of historical interest and curiosity 
in Kingston is the Senate House, which is well worth examina- 
tion, not only for itself but for what it contains. 

It stands upon Clinton Avenue just around the corner 
from the postoflSce and both of the principal hotels — Eagle and 
Clinton — and derives its distinction from the fact that here the 
first sessions of the State Legislature were held. Originally built 
by Wessel Ten Broeck, in 1676, it later became the dwelling-place 
of that sturdy patriot Abraham Yan Gasbeek, and was the 
gathering-place of the patriots of "the time that tried men's 
souls." It shared in the burning of the city by Vaughan, but its | 
wall remained firm, and it was repaired and afterward became ' 
the home of Gen. John Armstrong, Madison's Secretary of War, 
and, later, United States Minister to France. A few years ago the 
property was bought by the State, to be preserved as a memorial 
of the past. With great propriety it has been placed under the 
care of the historian, Marius Schoonmaker, a descendant of 
one of the oldest and most prominent local families; and is 
gradually being furnished and filled up as a museum of the 
heroic past of the town and county. The Kingston branch of the 
Daughters of the Kevolution is especially interested in this laud- 
able undertaking, and holds each year an anniversary celebration 
which keeps public interest alive. 

The Museum contains documents, books, pictures — including 
many studies and portraits by John Van der Lyn — costumes, furni- 
ture, military equipments, etc., calculated to illustrate the story 
of the past. The collection is especially interesting as an expo- 
nent of the daily life and condition of the Dutch burghers, whose 
real character, manners, and customs have been so obscured by 
the veil of drollery that Washington Irving threw over them, 
that few understand the practical good sense and sterling virtue 
which characterized these excellent and patriotic founders of 
New York. 

This building was chosen as the first State House under 
peculiar pressure. During the sunlmer of 1776 a constitution 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 151 

and form of State goveroment had been formulated. The meet- 
ings of delegates who had accomplished this preliminary work 
had been held at Fishkill; but that village was too small and 
exposed, and after considerable search Kingston was selected as 
the proper place for subsequent meetings. The Provincial Con- 
vention therefore gathered at Kingston in March, 1777, and held 
its sessions in the Court House until April 20, 1777, when the 
constitution was finally agreed upon and signed. This occurred 
on Sunday. The exigencies of the times admitted of no delay on 
account of the sacredness of the day. Two days afterward, on 
April 22d, the constitution was formally proclaimed from the 
front door of the Court House with great pomp and rejoicing, the 
elections followed, and George Clinton was chosen governor. 

The first Legislature got together on September 10th, and on the 
preceding day the first court ever held in the State of New York, 
under the constitution, convened at the Court House at Kingston, 
and was presided over by the newly appointed Chief Justice, 
John Jay — scholar, statesman, diplomat, and jurist — equally dis- 
tinguished for his virtues and his talents, who had been a mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Convention, and was the principal 
draughtsman of that instrument. 

This first Legislature consisted of seventy members of the 
Assembly and twenty-four Senators. The Assembly convened 
at a house which then stood on the corner of Fair Street and 
Maiden Lane, and the Senate sat in this building. The joint 
body continued its deliberations until October 7th, when, on 
account of the threatened invasion of British troops, it adjourned. 
This, however, was not the last session of the Legislature in King- 
ston. It met again in 1779, and sat from August 18th to October 
25th. It was at this session that the famous act was passed con- 
fiscating the property of adherents to the British side, or Tories, 
as tliey were termed. The Legislature again met in Kingston in 
1780, and sat from April 22d to July 2d. It met for the fourth 
time here in 1783, and sat from January 27th to March 27th. 

THE BURNLNG OP KINGSTON BY THE BRITISH. 

After the capture of the Highland forts, the British fleet sailed 
up the river, firing at almost every prominent house on the shores 
as it went along. On the evening of October 15, 1777, the vessels 
came to Esopus Island and anchored there. The next morning, 
about 9 o'clock, they reached the mouth of the Rondout, where 
small earth-works, armed with light cannon, had been erected 
upon high ground overlooking the northern extension of the 



15S POtJGHKEEPSlE TO KINGSTON. 

present city along the Hudson River front called PonhocUe. 
These opened lire, but were soon silenced and captured by 
assault, but the little garrison escaped. In the harbor lay 
an armed galley and a hulk which had been used as a military 
prison. These and some sloops were captured and burned, 
together with several houses in the neighborhood, after which 
the British troops, led by Vaughan in person, and guided 
by Jacobus Lefferts, a resident Tory, marched up from the 
"strand" to Kingston, encountering no more resistance than a 
stray shot now and then from some exasperated American, and 
arrived at the village to find it deserted by almost every one 
except a few slaves. The villagers, who had not men enough to 
make even a show of resistance, had fled, taking away such valu- 
ables only as they could hastily stow into wagons, while some 
had left nearly everything in Iheir houses, refusing to believe 
that the town would be burned. The soldiers were immediately 
scattered about the town, looting and firing the houses and barns, 
filled with the stores of the harvest. This done, they hastily 
withdrew, not daring to wait until the American troops, hurry- 
ing from New Paltz, should come up, and the enraged people 
should gather in force. Clinton's advanced guard reached the 
Kuyckuyt in time to witness the expiring conflagration, and to 
see the last of the redcoats hastening back to their vessels; and the 
general relieved his feelings by hanging on the spot that spy, 
Lieutenant Taylor, who had been captured at New Windsor, 
some days before, with the silver bullet in his gorge. 

Here are the reasons which account for the unexampled and 
entirely needless destruction of this town in 1777. One of the 
distinct objects Howe had in view, in his expedition up the river 
in that year, was the devastation of Esopus, and General Vaughan 
wrote a falsehood when, to justify his act in the eyes of the 
neutral world, he alleged in his dispatches that he was fired upon 
from the houses of the village. Quoting Augustus Schoon- 
maker: 

"In no part of the United Colonies did the fires of liberty 
burn more brightly, or the spirit of patriotism animate more 
manly breasts, than in the new State of New York and in the 
little hamlet of Kingston. The best evidence of this is found in 
the report made by General Vaughan, the British commander, on 
October 17, 1777, in which he denounces the place as ' a nursery 



POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 153 

for almost every villain in the country.' . . . Lord North, 
the Prime Minister of George III., complained to Sir William 
Howe, then commanding the royal forces in New York, of * the 
pestiferous nest of rebels clustered about the banks of the 
Esopus.' Howe had already been stung by the signing of the 
Articles of Association by the inhabitants of Kingston and 
Marbletown, and by the fact that the Committee of Safety 
found refuge at Kingston when driven from New York and 
Fishkill." 

A few words more will complete the story of Vaughan's 
marauding expedition, which was so noteworthy an incident in 
the war history of the Hudson Valley. The vessels proceeded up 
the river a few miles, landing to burn the houses of several 
Whigs, among which was the manor of Robert R. Livingston, 
notwithstanding the fact that Mrs. Livingston was then enter- 
taining two or more British officers (prisoners on parole) who 
were ill or wounded. The surrender of Burgoyne was now 
known, however, and Continental troops were hurrying to the 
river to cut off and destroy the invaders, if possible. The red- 
coats therefore turned back, and on the 24tli of October passed 
through the Highlands, and returned to New York. 

The record of Kingston since those days has been one of pros- 
perous but uneventful growth. The town broadened its acres 
and extended more and more widely its streets. In 1805 it was 
incorporated as a village, and remained so until it consolidated 
with Rondout as a city in 1873. The town has always been 
ambitious and progressive. It founded a school of higher learn- 
ing as early as 1664, and for many years the Kingston Academy 
was the only institution of its kind north of New York, graduating 
many men of note. One of its principals was that John M. Pome- 
roy who became a standard authority upon international law. It 
is now the city high school. Earnest efforts were made to 
found here a State university; and also to make this town the 
capital of the United States, Among its citizens have been 
many of eminence in State affairs, and some who have acquired 
world-wide reputations. Here was born (October 15, 1775) John 
Van der Lyn, the painter of The Landing of Columbus in the 
rotunda of the capitol at Washington — a picture still more widely 
popular as the ornament of the back of the United States five- 



154 POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON. 

dollar note, and of the two-cent postage-stamp in the Columbian 
memorial issue of 1893. , 

Having early exhibited a decided taste and talent for drawing, 
Van der Lyn spent some months, under the patronage of Aaron 
Burr, in the ariist Stuart's studio at Philadelphia, where, among 
other things, he made a copy of Stuart's Washington, which 
now hangs in the Senate House. Burr also enabled him to go to 
Paris in 1798, where he studied four years. In 1801 he returned 
to the United States, but in 1803 went again to Europe, and 
painted his first historical sketch. The Murder of Jane McCrea, 
an incident of the Saratoga campaign. In 1805 he moved to 
Rome, and there painted his master-piece, Marius on the Ruins of 
Carthage, for which he was awarded the first gold medal by 
Napoleon at an exhibition in the Louvre. He remained in Europe 
until 1816, during which time he painted liis figure-pieces Ariadne 
and Cleopatra. The former is in the gallery of the Academy of 
Arts at Philadelphia, while his Cleo'patra is owned in Kingston. 
He painted a full-length portrait of Washington for the United 
States House of Representatives, for w^hich the House bad appro- 
priated $1,000; but when it was unveiled in the House, such was 
its merit that the House immediately and unanimously voted an 
additional compensation of $1,500. In 1839 he received the com- 
mission for his rotunda painting above mentioned, the studies 
and primary sketches for which are preserved here, as also is the 
principal part of his panorama of the Garden of Versailles, 
painted here in 1816, from sketches made by him when in Paris. 

At Kingston, too, lived and studied the landscape painter 
Jerms McEntee, whose brush was much occupied in this truly 
picturesque region; and literature is now represented in the city 
by Henry Abbey, whose poems have given his name an enviable 
notoriety. 

Kingston is a favorite place of residence for summer visitors 

from the city, and the excellent Eagle Hotel, near the square, 

entertains many such. Its streets and the surrounding roads are 

excellent for cycling and driving. 



THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 

The writer lias yet to appear who, taking the Catskili Mount- 
ains as his theme, shall adequately and truthfully deal with the 
group in all its aspects. 

The magic of Washington Irving's pen, by the relation of the 
tale of Bip Van Winkle, has endowed the whole region with 
poetic charm, and has given us the impression that every glen 
must be haunted by the " little people," and each peak have some 
story. The fact is, on the contrary, that the legendary lore of 
the Catskills is scanty, and historical incidents of popular interest 
are almost as scarce. 

Again, if one w^ere to believe wholly the perfervid pictures 
contained in the books issued annually by the local railway 
companies— excellent and trustworthy as these pamphlets are 
coming to be in many respects— he must conclude that nowhere 
else in the world were such grandeur and beauty of scenery, such 
perfection of hotel and boarding-house accommodation, such 
supernal excellence of air and water; but these must not be taken 
literally. 

The Catskills are not mountains, of course, in any proper 
sense — only big hills. Not to suggest the contrast between them 
and the Rockies or the Alps, they will not compare in mount- 
ainous size, nor in their approach to mountainous scenery, with 
the White Hills of New Hampshire, nor with the Smoky or 
Black ranges of the Carolinas; nor are their hotels better or 
worse than the average along the whole line of Appalachian 
summer resorts, from Moosehead Lake to Chattanooga. 

Nevertheless, it is a wholesome and beautiful region, easily 
accessible, offering opportunities for an outing, cither in the 
wilderness in some secluded hamlet, or amid the holiday -keeping 
crowd, in a manner costly and luxurious, or simple and cheap, as 
you prefer; and the Catskills are year by year attracting not only 
more holiday visitors, but more home-makers. The teudencj'', 
indeed, of late years has been decidedly toward the building of 
cottages and the increase of villages, rather than the patronage 

(155) 



156 THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 

of great hotels, many former patrons having purchased extensive 
tracts of land and built upon them cottages for permanent 
occupancy. In these associations, the houses and their surround- 
ing grounds are owned individually, of course, yet are mutually 
connected by some simple regulations, which enable the com- 
munity, as .a whole, to say who shall and who shall not be 
admitted to the neighborhood, and to make rules of local police. 
Such are Onteora, Sunset, Twilight, Schoharie, Elka, Santa Cruz, 
and other "parks," Fleischmann's pretty village, and similar! 
aggregations of friendly summer residents. The striking beauty 
and salubrity of this part of the mountains has contributed to the 
prosperity of these parks, and the pleasantest social intercourse 
prevails among the cottagers, many of whom own their forest 
homes, and return to them year after year. To those who are in 
search of health and vigor, no more promising place of sojourof 
can be found, within the same distance from New York, than on 
or near the summit of its highest points. People who are weary 
of noisy, restless city life may be reasonably certain of peaceful 
and comfortable living among the tree-clad hills and fertile valleys 
of the famous Rip Van Winkle country. 

An alphabetical list of hotels will be found on pages 227-232. 
A complete list of boarding houses may be secured by addressing 
the general passenger agent of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad 
at Rondout, also from the general passenger agent West Shore 
Railroad, 5 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York City. 

T-wo principal entrances to the Catskill Mountains exist, but 
both admit to the two lines of valleys in which the tourist may 
find nearly all of the hotels, and the great body of summer travel 
and residents. One of these entrances is along the route of the 
Ulster & Delaware Railroad from Kingston west across the south- 
ern part of the group; the other is from Catskill by rail to the 
resident parks and Tannersville, and thence down Stony Clove.j 
just behind the line of peaks which form the eastern front of tha 
range. The latter (see the next chapter) is the older approach,! 
but the former comes first in our progress up the river. | 

The Ulster & Delaware Railroad has a terminal station inS 
Rondout, at the water-side, where passengers arriving or depart- 




HAINES' FALLS. 



f 



THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS 157 

ing by the Rhinebeck ferry, can change to and from the cars with- 
out trouble. It skirts old Rondout on high ground, giving a good 
view of the old town, and stops at the junction station of the West 
Shore Railroad, a mile inland, where passengers from that 
line are received in the union station. A third halt is then 
made at Fair Street, the upper city, or Kingston station proper. 
The railroad then finds its way across the southern part of the 
mountains, through the valley of the Esopus on the east and the 
headwaters of the Delaware on the west. Its devious course 
gives as good an idea of the scenery of the range as can easily 
be obtained. The Hudson-Delaware divide is crossed near the 
summit of Pine Hill, at Grand Hotel station, 1,886 feet above 
tide- water, after which the line bends northward along the water- 
shed of the Delaware and ends at Hobart, seventy-eight miles from 
Kingston. From Hobart to Bloomville, nine miles beyond, a 
little road has been built, which is leased and operated by the 
Ulster & Delaware, so that, practically, the line and its trains 
extend to Bloomville, eighty-seven miles from Kingston. A gap 
of less than twenty miles remains between Bloomville and the 
Cooperstown & Charlotte Railroad; but as this would bring this 
company into connection with the railway system of the interior 
of the State, subject it to competition, and compel it to share 
through rates, and reduce its present large, non-competitive 
charges, the gap will probably not be bridged. At present the 
charges on the mainline of i he Ulster & Delaware road are at 
the rate of 'S cents a mile; and on its branches at the rate of 10 
cents a mile! 

Leaving Kingston, finally, at the upper city station (Fair 
Street), the train crosses the Esopus, or Kingston Creek, and 
ascends the valley called Stony Hollow. At West Hurley, nine 
miles west, 540 feet of altitude have been gained, and a broad 
farming valley is opened to view. 

The mountain on the right (northward) is Overlook (altitude, 
3,500 feet). At its base is the village of Woodstock, five miles 
distant; half-way up stands Mead's "Mountain House," one of 
the oldest resorts of the region; and two miles farther brings 
one to the Overlook House, near the top, and having an observa- 
tory upon the very crest. The breezes are always cool, the sur- 
roundings are wild, and the view is truly an " over-look," reach- 
ing far away across the Hudson, and north and south for a long 
distance, including, it is advertised, parts of seven States; but 
the long stage-ride for passengers, and the necessity of hauling 
supplies over a rough road from this station, or from Tanners- 
13 



158 THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 

ville, have proved too large a handicap, and the hotel was closed 
with the season of 1891. 

Stages from West Hurley leave daily, except Sunday, 
throughout the year: For Woodstock, 5 miles, fare 50 cents; 
Bearsville, 7 miles, fare 60 cents; Lake Hill, 10 miles, fare 75 
cents. During the summer months only, for Mead's Mountain 
House, 8 miles, fare $1.00; Overlook Mountain House (when 
open), 9 miles, fare $1.50. j 

bl 

Olive and one or two small stations in this broad valley 

having been passed, Esopus Greek is again reached and crossed 
at Broadhead's Bridge, where the line turns up the stream and 
keeps close to its western bank almost as far as the source. This 
is the principal easterly stream of the middle Cat skills, collecting 
all the water from the Pine Hill summit, Big Indian, Stony 
Clove, Beaverkill, Woodland, Shokan, Woodstock, and Platter- 
kill valleys. It is divided from the Catskill and Schoharie, on 
the north, by the water-shed rauge that extends from High Peak 
to Hunter, and from the Rondout, on the south, by the peaks of 
which Slide Mount is the highest; and in old times was known 
as the " Little" Esopus, while the Rondout was " Big " Esopus. 
The next two or three stations, Shokan, Boiceville, Mount 
Pleasant, etc., as far as Phoenicia, are quiet little villages, each 
provided with a small hotel and surrounded by farmers who 
keep boarders. A continuous line of hills on the right cuts off 
the view of the mountains proper with the exception of a distant 
glimpse of the Overlook from Olive Branch, above that portion 
of the hills called Little Tonche. The central and highest 
point is named Ticetenyck, and the most western, near Boice- 
ville, Tonche Hook. In approaching Shokan, the beautiful 
High Point Mountain, 3,100 feet in height, is seen at the left 
side of the cars, in a southerly direction. 

At Shokan the hills shut in rather closely, and nowadays the 
place is invariably referred to as "at the gateway of the Cats- 
kills" — a phrase originating in the title of a magazine article by 
the present writer in Harper's for February, 1876. The region 
has not greatly altered since that time, such changes as have 
occurred being a loss of rusticity in the people which is accom- 
panied by the loss of a picturesqueness that it will be interesting 
to recall. Following is an extract: 



THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 159 

The valley [of the Esopus, here] is several miles long and 
irregularly broad, but with a level surface. The soil is coarse 
drift-bowlder material, and water-worn stones from an ounce to 
a ton in weight are everywhere to be seen. Stone walls, conse- 
quently, almost entirely take the place of fences. These become 
browned by exposure to the weather, embroidered with varicol- 
ored lichens, entangled in thickets of briers, where lightly rests 
a mantle of snow-blossoms, or droop rich clusters of delicious 
berries, or glow sunburned masses of foliage; and they tumble 
into piles exceeding picturesque the year round. They are the 
favorite resort of sparrows and wrens, whose lithe bright forms 
dodge in and out of hiding-places with ceaseless activity, or 
choose some taller bush near by as a pedestal for joyous song. 
On every side rise hills to the height of 1,500 or 2,000 feet, 
culminating at Sliokan in the two mountains Ticetenyck and 
High Point, that stand over against one another at the head of 
the vallej'", like two giant warders guarding the portal to the 
mysteries of the Catskills, which the far blue summits beckon 
feet and imagination to explore. 

Through this huge gate and down the valley winds the 
Esopus, ... a brawling mountain stream, such as the 
painters go to Scotland to find; or rather, it was before the for- 
ests on its banks were felled, and its waters were befouled by 
refuse from the tanneries, mills, and villages which, attracted by 
its bark and lumber, have grown up on its banks. But to follow 
up any of its small tributaries, like the Little Beaverkill or the 
Bushkill, or to work your way to its source, is to penetrate the 
primeval forest, where, now that the bark-peelers have departed, 
rarely wanders any but the trapper or trout-fisher, or an occa- 
sional tramp like the writer, who would seek for love of them 
the inmost recesses of the wilderness. 

Through this gateway, about the beginning of the century, 
passed many of the settlers of Delaware County — which lies 
thirty miles to the northwest — coming from Long Island, Connect- 
icut, and from the counties beyond the Hudson. Down through 
it now comes a large part of the produce, mainly butter, from 
that county to market. The settlers beyond the mountains have 
also sent back a man or two into the world, who emerged from 
these mountain portals. . . . 

If searching varied scenery nearer the village of Shokan, you 
must not fail to walk two miles down to Bishop's Falls, to which 
I alluded a moment ago, where the Esopus leaps into its little 
canon. To get the complete picture, you must climb down to 
the foot of the falls, cautiously, for the rocks are slippery with 
spray and slimy confervoid growths. Beside you is the deep dark 
pool where the fish love to lie ; over your head, the long, cov- 
ered, age-colored Olive Bridge, spanning the chasm from abut- 
ments of living rock; in front, the rock amphitheater, raised still 
higher by a log dam at the top, down whose steps rushes the 



16^0 THE TOUR OP THE CATSKILLS. 

tumultuous water, white with the foam of its mad leap and 
hoarse with the thunder of its breaking waves. On your right is 
an old tannery, on your left a still older mill. This ancient mill 
is historic. Through its decayed and moss-grown flume the 
water has flowed to grind a hundred harvests. Could its wallsl 
repeat the stories they have listened to, tell the events they have* 
seen, no other chronicle of the neighborhood were needed, for 
there have been few inhabitants within a circle of a dozen miles 
who have not driven under its roadway shed. . . . 

About a century ago a man named Bishop, with a baker's 
dozen of children, came down from Delaware County — curiously 
enough — to settle here. The space about these falls was all 
" commons," and Mr. Bishop bought a large tract on one side of 
the river for a few cents an acre. His first move was to take 
advantage of the magnificent water-power, and erect a small mill, 
building so well that the solid oaken timbers stand to day as 
firmly as when first put up, but browned by the lights and 
shadows of the long years which have soaked into their pores. 
The first machinery, an undershot wheel and simple gearing, was 
made entirely of wood whittled out by Bishop himself; where he 
got his buhr-stones, or whether he had any, I do not know. 
These contrivances lasted some years, but one winter were torn 
away by ice. Then a workman from Kingston made a wooden 
tub-wheel. This also stood a long time, but a few years ago was 
replaced by a turbine wheel, and the primitive gearing by the 
iron shafts and cog-wheels in present use. Meanwhile, under the 
ceaseless turning of the stream of life, the owner wore out along 
with his wheels, and Mr. Bishop was laid aside. Some would 
think this pioneer might have said, "My life is one dem'd horrid 
grind"; but we have no record that he even thought of his stay 
on the earth thus harshly. 

The old mill, in its stability, regularity, and slow movement, is 
not a bad type of the men who bring their harvests to be crushed; 
and while waiting, grind between tbe stones of each other's com- 
ments the grist of neighborhood gossip. They differ mainly iu 
the cut of their coats from those who came when the old mill was 
new, for they have preserved the traditions and customs of their 
forefathers with great tenacity. Their faces show the mixture of 
Yankee and Dutch blood which flows in their veins, and the 
thrift in their farming and their incessant whittling further attest 
the double parentage. All the farms have been in the families 
of those who now own them for several generations, but still 
yield abundantly. The aged orchards, the pieces of large second- 
growth timber, the occasional ruin where once stood a home- 
stead, the many low, old-style, tumble-down houses, show how 
long the valley has been under the plow. 

Thus far, these paragraphs remain a fair account of life all 
along this and the neighboring valleys and mountain slopes, but 



THE TOUR OP THE CATSKILLS. 161 

the following picture can no longer be realized by a visitor to the 
Esopus Valley, where the old self-sufficiency has been replaced 
by worldly notions, ambitions, and materials, introduced by the 
summer boarder and the fast mail. 

" The simplest mechanical arts," I recorded in the Centennial 
year, "never had much foot-hold here, for every young man 
learns all the trades as well as the methods of agriculture, and by 
the time he is twenty-four is supposed to be proficient in every 
handicraft likely to be of use to an independent farmer. He is a 
wheelwright, a blacksmith, a house-carpenter, a stone-mason, a 
shoemaker; can patch his harness, repair his gun, or intelli- 
gently tinker the few pieces of machinery which have forced 
their way from the outside world of labor-saving inventions into 
these quiet precincts. You find a workshop on every farm and 
a more or less complete set of tools for each of the trades. The 
cutting and splitting of hoop-poles occupies profitably many a 
rainy day, after the farmer has seen that his hoes lack no 
handles and his ox-yoke does not need a new bow. 

"On the other hand, the women are skilled in all those 
household industries which were considered the accomplish- 
ments of the Puritan maidens, and are slow to displace the spin- 
ning-wheel by the sewing-machine. Of course the testimony of 
their proficiency as cooks is 'new every morning and fresh 
every evening.' In the long August afternoons, when the mel- 
low sun glances upon the circles of ruddy cider apples under the 
broad orchard trees, and Ihe cat drowses on the door-step, guard- 
ing the immaculate kitchen from the invasion of the chickens, is 
heard the loud rhythmic purring of the spinning-wheel, rising 
and dying away like the droning of the giant bee. Watching 
the plainly attired woman walking back and forth beside her 
whirring wheel, guiding with dextrous hands the fleecy lengths 
she holds, one can easily think himself back in the ' good old 
colony times,' wiien the maidens paused in their spinning to 
chat of the news brought in the last ship from England, or 
guided their yarn with tremulous hands and beating hearts 
while their lovers were silently watching them through the 
misty spokes of the flying wheel. The carding-bee has been out- 
grown, but the idea remains, and the people still find their 
pleasures in combining play Avith work; husking-bees, quiltings, 
and raisings are yet the enthusiastic occasions of tremendous 
labor and equal fun. In the fall there is an occasional nutting 
party, or hunt for wild honey by ' lining ' the bees home to their 
treasure. Hundreds of pounds of fine honey are thus got every 
year out of these woods." 

The mountains which now appear grandly in the south and 
southwest are the loftiest of the Catakills, and the wildest and 



16S THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 

most picturesque part of the group lies in and about them — a 
region almost uninhabited, and penetrated by only a few old 
wood roads usually ending in nothing, or continued by some 
grown-up bark-peeler's track of long ago, or an obscure foot- 
path known only to the local mountaineers, who tramp it once or 
twice late in the fall and winter to hunt bears and foxes, and 
to gather wild honey. These peaks are about four miles distant, 
and form a half-circle with long converging spurs. The central 
one of this group is Slide (4,220 feet), the highest and most Alpine 
of all the Catskills, and next to it are Peakamoose (altitude, 3,875 
feet) and Table Mountain (altitude, 3,865 feet); but none of 
these three is to be seen from here. Their two great compan- 
ions, visible on this side, are Mount Cornell, 3,920 feet in altitude, 
and crowned by a circle of cliffs, and TJie Wittenberg at its right, 
3,824 feet high. Both are rough, densely wooded, and rocky, but 
they can be climbed from almost any approach. Mr. John Bur- 
roughs and the present writer once walked to the top of the 
Wittenberg from Boiceville, w^itli no great diflQculty, by ascend- 
ing Traver Hollow from Boiceville, and keeping along the ridge of 
Cross Mountain, that long spur which reaches down almost to 
the railway. The ascent was very steep near the top, and the 
descent into the head of Woodland Hollow, on the other side, 
was a continual scramble down rocky ledges. Not a path was 
seen the whole trip; and its adventures, which included a night 
spent on the summit under an extemporized hut of hemlock 
boughs, formed the subject of two articles in The Christian Union 
for June 18 and 25, 1891, in which some details may be found of 
service to any one who cares to repeat the ramble. These mount- 
ains show grandly from this side, but as the train advances 
beyond Sliokan presently become hidden by the nearer mass of 
Mount Pleasant at the mouth of the Beaverkill, which comes in 
from the northeast, and up whose valley you see Sugar Loaf, 
Roundtop, High Peak, and other heights that look down on the 
Kaatc rskill Clove. Here is the Mount Pleasant station, and from. 
it a road runs up the Beaverkill and through .-to the populous 
Sawkill Valley, and so down to Saugerties, passing many farms 
and little villages. 

Phoenicia is the next stopping place, important mainly as the 
junction of the Ulster & Delaware and Stony Clove railroads. 



THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 163 

The valley is liere closely environed by shaggy mountains, which 
are broken northeastward by a great gulch called Stony Clove — 
the latter term an old Dutch word meaning a ravine, still in 
use all along the Hudson River, and appearing commonly in 
South Africa in the modified form kloof. As you face the 
Clove, Tremper Mountain is close overhead on the right, its spurs 
forming the right-hand wall of the Clove, and Mount Sheridan 
(2,490 feet) is opposite on the left; while Mount Garfield (2,650 
feet) is directly westward, and Mount Romer southward, behind 
the observer. Esopus Creek and the Ulster & Delaware Railroad, 
therefore, come down to Phoenicia between Mounts Garfield and 
Sheridan, and continue southward between Tremper and Romer. 
Looking westward, between Romer and Garfield, one sees 
some ten miles distant the bulky mass of Panther Mountain 
(3,800 feet) and the "giant ledge " reaching southward from its 
shoulder at the head of Panther Kill. Panther Mountain is a 
vast elevated plateau of dense rough forests, abounding in big 
game, and utterly destitute of roads, paths, or people. Those in 
search of a wilderness, and desirous of "roughing it," can be 
recommended to go thither, and work their way along to Slide 
and the head of the Ronclout until they get enough of it. 

Phoenicia contains, besides several boarding-houses, the great 
Tremper House, the first large hotel to be built in this part of the 
mountains. Its elevated situation above the surrounding plain 
gives it perfect drainage; accommodates 800 guests. A good path 
leads to the great out-look-ledge on Mount Sheridan, and a carriage 
road ascends to the summit of Mount Tremper, while just over 
the hills, at the left, is the pleasant Woodland Valley, as they 
now call Snyder Hollow, which is some nine miles long, and 
reaches backward, parallel with the railroad, to the very foot of 
the Wittenberg. 

STONY CLOVE, HUNTER, AND TANNERSVILLE. 

Stony Clove is a deep and narrow ravine, where many ledges 
of bare rock break the monotony of the steep and wooded 
mountain-sides. A little stream comes cascading down its clef t, 
and the old wagon road still climbs beside it. It is perhaps true 
that it "has long been regarded as one of the great scenic 
attraciions of the Catskills"; but it is by no means so interesting 
as Kaaterskill Clove, nor does it compare with some of the 



164 THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 

railway passes in the mountains of Virginia or East Tennessee. 
The railway, built about 1880, is a narrow-gauge line called 
Stony Clove & Gatskill Mountain Bailtcay^ leased by the Ulster & 
Delaware Co. All passengers must change cars, but freight- 
cars are lifted from their wheels, balanced upon the little 
narrow-gauge trucks, and hauled through without unloading. 
The terminus is Hunter. Tiiree miles below Hunter a connect- 
ing narrow-gauge line called Kaaterskill Railroad, and the 
property of the Ulster «& Delaware Co., diverges to the east 
five miles, to a terminus at Otis Summit station, at the head of 
the Otis Elevating Ry. The fare on these lines is 10 cents a^ 
mile; and on many of the trains are run open cars similar to 
those between Brooklyn and Coney Island. 

Three small stations, two of which are little more than chair 
factorieSi are passed in the ascent of the cafion, where an elevation 
of 1,273 feet is gained in ten miles, and in some places the grade is 
as high as 187 feet to the mile. One of the stations, Chichester's, 
is at the mouth of a side ravine called Ox Clove, The summit 
is reached in an especially narrow pass named The Notch, where 
there is scarcely room in the bottom for the wagon road and 
railroad together, and the rocky walls are sleep but beautifully 
overhung with vines and shrubbery. Four miles beyond, and 
around at the left, is the village of Hunter, forming a long street 
along the base of Hunter Mountain, next to Slide the highest of 
the Catskill peaks. It is an old place, and has churches, fac- 
tories, a weekly newspaper, etc., but has become prominent as a 
summer resort since the completion of the railway, and has 
several large hotels and so many boarding-houses that "nearly 
2,000 visitors can be entertained in this locality." Mount Hunter 
(altitude, 4,038 feet) and The Colonel's Chair (altitude, 3,165 feet) 
overshadow the town, and are ascendible by good paths. 

Stages leave Hunter daily, except Sunday, for Lexington, 
9 miles, fare 75 cents; Hensonville, 7 miles, fare 75 cents; 
Windham, 9 miles, fare $1. These are pretty villages along the 
Schoharie, of which Windham is the best known, and has long 
been a favorite with the migrants who scatter through these 
mountains in summer. The vicinity is especially noted for its 
excellent and shady roads, especially that to the cleared summit 
of Mount Pisgah, whence a landscape of unusual breadth and 
variety is spread before the gaze. 



THE TOUK OF THE CATSKILLS. 165 

Five miles east of Hunter, by the turnpike, or six by the rail- 
road (Kaaterskill branch), is Tannersville, which is distinctively 
a summer resort. It abounds in small hotels and boarding-houses, 
as well as a great number of small cottages, scattered over a wide 
area of uplands, pretty thoroughly cleared of trees, so that there 
is a lack of shade and a plenitude of dust. Able and willing to 
accommodate anybody vying with other places in point of cheap- 
ness, and accessible by rail and stage from both Kingston and 
Catskill, Tannersville has become the resort of a very mixed and 
rapidly moving summer population, and is a great resort, in par- 
ticular, of our Israelitish brethren, who love to gather where they 
can be together. A great circle of high mountains surrounds the 
town. On the east are North and South mountains. High Peak 
(or Mount Lincoln), and Roundtop; on the south, Sugar Loaf, half 
hidden by Clum Hill (the ascent of which is a favorite walk, and 
about as much mountaineering as the visitors there care to under- 
take, or would better try, if they depend upon their fanciful imita- 
tions of the alpenstock); and westward rise the bulky masses of 
Plateau and Hunter mountains; while northward is Mount 
Parker (or Spruce Top), and more distant, and the only really 
interesting peaks of the lot, are Black Dome and Blackhead. If 
one goes to the mountains simply to join a rollicking, highly 
varied crowd, which is bent upon having a *' good time" without 
much expense or attention to conventionalities, the Tanners- 
ville district will suit him; but it is not the place for quiet folk, 
who seek in the hills something else than a cheap copy of the noise 
and amusements of the city they have left behind. 

Tannersville is the station for several of the elegant and 
exclusive of the associations of cottagers that are annually becom- 
ing more numerous in the Catskills, including Elka Park, Scho- 
harie Manor, and Onteora Park. 

Onteora Park is a preserve of some 2,000 acres on a hill-slope 
a mile or more north of Tannersville, and separated from it by a 
valley which was selected originally as a summer homestead by 
Mrs. F. B. Tlmrber of musical fame, and the wife of one of New 
York's leading merchants, with Mrs. Candace Wheeler and Miss 
Dora Wheeler, the artists, as neighbors. 

It was a place, we are told, where daisied meadows rolled away 
from their feet, and fir forests climbed the heights behind them ; 



I6u THE TOUR OP THE CATSKILLS. 



3 



where little brooks trickled through the shadows of the woods, 
and away to the left the hills stood aside to show a glimpse of the 
silver Hudson, beyond which rolled again blue billows of distant 
hills, which were the Berkshires. "Here is our home," they said, - 
Avithout more ado, and began to build mountain lodges of unhewn I 
spruce logs, with pillars of the silver-skinned birch, having! 
within great low-timbered rooms with wide fireplaces, floors? 
strewn with the skins of bear trapped in the forest behind them, 
and furnished and fitted in the rustic fashion suiting such a 
dwelling. 

Every autumn there were collected here parties of well-known 
artists, litterateurs, and musicians. These began to take envious 
counsel among themselves — seeing all this uncostly pleasure and 
simple beauty — and to say: " Why can't we have the same thing? " 
A land compan}^ was organized, wdiicli purchased 2,000 acres of 
the mountain, so that no intruders might come in and spoil the 
lovely environments of the place. A rustic and picturesque inn 
was built, christened the Bear and Fox. A good road to the top 
of the mountain was made through the woods, and a number of 
charming little cottages sprinkled about at odd intervals, all of 
logs and rustic in character, but individual in design. 

This club has a peculiar purpose. It is not meant for rich 
people, but for cultured and elegant ones. The land is sold, or 
cottages rented, or camping-places and board at the inn are offered 
to the right people at very low rates, and denied to unacceptable 
applicants at any price. Artists are numerous, and make it a 
point to leave in the club house some brush memento of their 
visit. Says a happy guest: "Famous people wdiose names are 
on the backs of well-known books, down on the right-hand 
corner of beautiful paintings, or signed to musical scores, lounge 
about in flannels all clay, reading, sketching, or simply 'inviting 
their souls,' and in the evening cluster about the great altar in 
front of the inn, where a huge log-heap blazes every evening, 
healthily wear}^ with out-of-door sports, tossing brilliant fancies 
about or trolling minstrel songs to a banjo. There is Gilder, the 
editor of the Century, with his slender dark face and cavernous 
eyes lit by the firelight. . . . Hamilton Bell, the young 
Englishman who designs all Daly's gorgeous stage-settings and 
the Rehau's picturesque costumes, has his note-book on his knees 
explaining to the noted pianist who makes her home with Mrs. 
Thurber how Mrs. Potter's CleqiDatra costumes are to look when 
he has finished them. It is 'the paradise of busy women. 
Whenever a clever, gifted girl is working for her living she finds 
the Onteora Club ready to make her entry here so reasonable that 
even her slender purse can afford it, and several of them have 
homes here already, simple as may be, but their own, where they 
can come and meet the most charming people in the whole of 
America, and yet not be overshadowed by the French dressmaker 
of richer women." 

t! 



THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS, 167 

Elka Park is an organization of somewhat similar character 
and limitations which has latelj^ purchased a large tract of land 
on Spruce Top, at the source of the Schoharie, and a mile or so 
beyond Onteora Park. Its members are mainly the gentlemen of 
the Liederkranz Society, and others prominent in German society 
in New York; and it will doubtless perfect an encampment of 
summer residences as interesting and beautiful as Onteora. 

Schoharie Manor — having within its boundaries a large club 
house in the colonial style, termed the Schoharie Mansion — is a 
recent addition to cottage clubdom in the Catskills, occupying 300 
acres adjacent to Elka Park. 

Another association, originating in the Twilight Club of New 
York, has a tract of land called Twilight Park, at the head of 
Kaaterskill Clove, upon which an excellent club-house and many 
pretty cottages have been built among the trees, whose windows 
look across and down the Clove, 

Still farther, along the steep acclivity of Roundtop, is a 
similar newer park, called Santa Cruz, nearly opposite the Hotel 
Kaaterskill. The station for both these parks and for Haines'' 
Falls is Haines'' Corners, a mile beyond Tannersville, and itself 
the center of a large number of small hotels and farm board- 
ing-houses, mostly possessed by some member of the old and 
numerous Haines family, whose farms join one another in a sort 
of continuous tribal possession all around the head of the 
Kaaterskill Clove. 

Two miles more brings the train to the Laurel House station, 
and just beyond to the station on South Lake, half-a-mile 
to the rear of the Hotel Kaaterskill, and less than a mile farther 
is the terminus {Otis Smmnit) at the head of the Otis Elevating 
Railway. This eastern group of hotels and lofty points of 
interest overlooking the Hudson belongs rather to Catskill 
(cit}^ than to the present connection, and will be spoken of 
more particularly hereafter (see Chap. YI), and it is necessary 
now only to point out, as has been done, that they are accessible 
in the rear, as it were, by this all-rail route from Kingston or the 
interior mountain towns via Stony Clove; and that they can be 
seen, or made halting-places, upon an interesting round-trip from 
Kingston to Catskill (city), or vice versa, by way of the Ulster & 
Delaware, Stony Clove, Otis Elevated, and Catskill Mountain 



168 THE TOUIl OF THE CATSKILLS. 

railroads. This can be done in a single day, at a cost of fo to |7, 
by any one who can not afford more time, or whose curiosity will 
be satisfied b}- so rapid a glimpse; and it is well worth doing. The 
fare from the top of the Elevating Railway to Catskill city is 11.75. 

From Phomicia westward the. Ulster & Delaware Railroad I 
follows up the valley of theEsopus between Mount Sheridan oul 
the right and Panther Mountain on the left, making its first stop atl 
Sliandalcen, in a valley which already has many hotels and board- 
ing-houses, and seems destined to grow rapidly in population. 
Its most prominent hotel is Goodheim's "Palace," formerly 
widely known as Lament's, at the entrance to Beep Notch, through I 
which a road leads to the Westkill Valley, Vinegar Hill, and Lex- 
ington on the Schoharie. 

Stages from Shandaken run daily, except Sunday, throughout 
the year: For Bushnellville, 3 miles, fare 35 cents; Westkill, 7 
miles, fare 75 cents; Lexington, 11 miles, fare $1. 

Making a sharp turn westward at that point, under the brow 
of Rose Hill (northward), the road winds its way through wild 
hills to Big Lidian (station), at the mouth of Big Indian' Creek, 
which is really the head of the Esopus, since it is a larger stream 
than that which comes more directly from Pine Hill and is followed 
by the railroad. 

This name "Big Indian" has been accounted for by a variety 
of fantastic stories, of which one given by Van Loan is as 
follows: In 1832 Theodore Guigou, founder of the family so 
closely identified with the history of this district since then, 
settled at Pine Hill, and was shown a stump of a large pine tree, 
carved in the form of an Indian, near the present site of the Big 
Indian station. He was then told by one of the old settlers that an 
Indian whose height was eight feet was buried near the stump. 
The Indian was chased by a pack of wolves and killed near this 
spot. The beautiful and wild valley just beyond was then 
named Big Indian. A more recent and elaborate tale makes 
this red giant the hero of a love affair in which he was shot by 
his white rival, and found afterward standing dead, but erect, in a 
hollow tree, whither he had crawled after receiving the fatal bullet. 

Big Indian Greek, or the Upper Esopus, rises high up on the 
northern slope of Slide Mountain, receiving the tribute of scores 
of springs and rivulets from Big Indian and Balsam mountains 
on the west, and from the Giant Ledge and Panther Mountain on 
the east, and it is a fine clear, cold Alpine stream, once alive 



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THE TOUR OF THE CAT8KTLLS. 169 

with trout, and still holding enough to give good sport to those 
who are skillful in angling. 

Balsam Mountain is really a part of the summit divide 
intervening between the Big Indian and Dry Brook, and is 
interesting for the sake of the Lost Chve, a long valley which 
splits it in two, and opens here in plain sight of Big Indian sta- 
tion ahead on the left. The name refers to the mysterious actions 
of an educated, well-mannered man named Flint, who, about 
1856, built a log cabin far up the Clove. He would occasionally 
go away for a month at a time, and return with a good supply of 
money, procuring provisions at the country store, after which 
he would disappear among the mountains again. He employed 
a woman to cook, who, with her child, remained with him four 
or five years. He eventually abandoned the place, and ten 
years afterward it was known that a man of the same name had 
died in Sing Sing Prison while confined there for counterfeiting 
United States coin. Van Loan, who notes the incident, remarks 
that the seclusiveness and all the mystery surrounding the 
movements of this man, among a people who are accustf)med to 
know not only the movements but the motives of all their neigh- 
bors, have connected the Lost Clove with the counterfeiter; and 
the white smoke seen in those days rising above the tree-tops 
near the head of the Clove is thought to have come from the fur- 
nace used in preparing the spurious metal. 

Up the Big Indian Valley lies the route to Slide Mountain, 
the summit of which is lOJ miles by carriage road and foot-path 
from Big Indian station. Five miles from the station is a small 
hotel kept by J. W. Dutcher, where many stop overnight so as to 
give themselves the whole of the next day for the ascent. Mr. 
Dutcher is an old resident who feels a sort of proprietorship in 
the mountain, and no one could be a more trustworthy or inter- 
esting guide than he. 

The carriage road ascends three miles beyond Dutcher's, end- 
ing at the gates of Winnisook Lodge, a woodland preserve 
owned by a club, mainly of Kingston citizens. A novel and 
commodious club-house has been erected, and a bit of choice 
mountain water has been converted into a small lake; there are 
also two or three private cottages. About two miles beyond 
this, on the west branch of the Neversink, is the State Deer Park, 
which covers a portion of the 80,000 acres of State domain in the 
Catskills. It contains a fine herd of deer and .some other wild 
animals, which are breeding successfully, and is well worth a 
visit. From here on (2i miles) the ascent must be continued on 



170 THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 

foot, but there is a fair path, whicli is being made into a bridle- 
road by the State. The great land-slip, or "slide," to which the 
peak owes its name, and the scar of which is plain in a long, bare, 
vertical streak upon its face, is said to have occurred during a 
period of excessively rainy weather half a century ago; but history, 
has recorded no particulars of the catastrophe. 

"This crowning crag of the Catskills," says the intelligent 
writer of a recent pamphlet issued by the railway company, " is 
the grandest and most interesting of the whole group. . . . 
The view from this mountain transcends thai of any other m the 
range, it being nearly 200 feet above the highest. Here tliei 
lordly Hudson, like a broad silver ribbon with an occasional* 
fold hidden from view, is seen for about fifty miles, extending 
from the gate of the Highlands to near Hudson. The cities of 
Poughkeepsie and Kingston, and numerous villages in New York 
and Connecticut, are in sight. The Housatonic River also shim- 
mers faintly far to the east, and portions of six different States 
can be identified. In the sublime sweep of vision from the 
observatory are streams, lakes, valleys, farms, factories, church 
spires, railroads, and mountains piled on mountains. To greet 
the rising sun from this crest on a clear morning, and watch 
again as it sinks over the rugged rim of mountains away to ihe 
west, is an experience that no description can portray or antici- 
pate. A recent visitor was delighted with a most novel effect 
presented by the receding sun there on a remarkably clear after- 
noon. He says the huge lengthening shadow of the giant mount- 
ain, as it reached out toward the river, finally extended over the 
city of Kingston, and he plainly saw the whole city lying in the 
gloom of Slide Mountain. This is twelve or fourteen miles 
away through the air, and it is thus evident that tlie familiar 
characterization of Kingston as being "in the shadow of the 
Catskills" is not merely figurative, but real. A large portion of 
this mountain, including the crest, belongs to the State. The 
spruce trees on and near the top are very thickly branched, so 
that one can recline upon their tops with ease. An excellent 
spring of water has been found near the crest . . . [and] 
some choose to spend the night on this summit, which is indeed 
a decision fraught with varied possibilities, for which ample 
preparation in advance is peculiarly judicious. But the sublime 
experience fully warrants the risk of encountering the terrible 
atmospheric conflicts that at times culminate there. Plenty of 
food and an abundance of warm clothing and blankets should be 
provided. A convenient ledge of rocks will be found, under 
which a small party can secure shelter." 

Stages from Big Indian run daily, except Sunday, throughout 
the season: For Olivera, 2}4 miles, fare 25 cents; Slide Mountain 
P. O., 5 miles, fare 50 cents; Winnisook Lodge, 83^ miles, fare 



THE TOUR OF THE GATSKILLS. 171 

75 cents; Branch, 12 miles, fare $1; Frost Yalley, 15 miles, fare 
$1; Clary ville, 22 miles, fare $1.25. 

At Big Indian station is begun the ascent of Pine Hill, the 
summit dividing the watershed of the Hudson from that of the 
Delaware. Presently there appears on the sky-line ahead the 
broad white front of the Grand Hotel, which by the road is less 
than three miles distant. The railway, however, must take a 
more devious course in order to maintain its ascending gradient 
of about one hundred and fifty feet to the mile, and before reach- 
ing the top halts at Pine Hill station, beneath which, in the fair 
valley, lies the scattering and pretty hamlet of Pine Hill. Besides 
the many summer hotels and cottages, the village has churches, 
stores, a weekly newspaper, and other features showing a con- 
siderable permanent population. 

For a charming valley tramp from Pine Hill, the reader is 
advised to follow up Birch Brook — in which, if you are keen- 
eyed, you may discover speckled trout lying in its deep, quiet 
pools — to Bushnellville; cross the divide into Deep Notch, with 
its summer ice-beds; follow Angle Brook down it to Shandaken, 
and then turn up the Shandaken Valley and follow the wagon 
road back to Pine Hill. It will take the greater part of a day. 

In the mile and a half of long curve beyond, 226 feet of height 
are gained, at the end of which the train halts in front of the 
Grand Hotel, on the "summit," 1,886 feet above tide-level, and 
forty- one miles from Rondout. 

Grand Hotel is an important summer station. A few rods 
distant is the hotel, the largest of this region, and opened in 
1881. It has a frontage of 675 feet; is luxurious in its appoint- 
ments, costly, and exclusive in its patronage. Every means of 
elegant amusement and fashionable mountaineering is provided 
for, and wealth and beauty find there the most congenial com- 
pany and surroundings. The expenditures for fittings and 
appointments seem to have been practically without limit, and 
each season appears to bring a greater share of tourist patron- 
age, many returning year after year. From the hotel piazzas, 
or, better, from the top of the isolated, bare-topped Summit 
Mountain, or Monka Hill, as it is now styled, just behind 
the hotel, and 1,000 feet higher, one gets a wide, unobstructed, 
and inspiring view, through the clear, bracing, balsamic air, of 
mountains and valleys, the more beautiful because on all sides 
14 



172 THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILLS. 

the refinement of civilization mingles with the savagery of nature. 
"Southward, in the sky, is old King Slide, only slightly over- 
topping its aspiring neighbors; westward, the farms and hamlets 
of Delaware County, and far down under the projecting rocks on 
which you stand is the green, primeval, wooded, and far-extend- 
ing valley." A carriage road reaches this eminence. 

The range of high hills west of the line, and facing the Grand 
Hotel, is named Bdle Ayr, and its slope, Higlimount, has two 
hotels— the ' ' Grampian " and ' ' Belle Ayr "—in the center of a cot- 
tage community, where building-lots are sold only under certain 
restrictions. At the western foot of the summit, where was 
formerly the station called Griffin's Corners— an ancient farming 
settlement— a village of beautiful and costly houses has grown 
up around that of Mr. Louis Fleischmann, the great Vienna bread 
baker and restaurateur of Broadway and 10th streets, New 
York. Here have gathered many German friends of wealth and 
cultivation, including Anton Seidl, the orchestra leader. The 
station and park is now kuown as Fleischmann' s. 

In these swift-descending valleys springs one of the sources 
of the Delaware, and four miles below Fleischmann's the East 
Branch of that great river is encountered at Arkville, under the 
shadow of Pakataghkan Mountain (altitude, 3,000 feet), which is 
south of the station, across Dry Brook. This is a central point 
for many diverging roads up neighboring valleys. It is, in fact, 
one of the delightful features of all this part of the Catskills, and 
especially here in Delaware County, on the western slope, that 
one may drive in almost any direction over excellent roads and 
find the greatest diversity of scenery. 

Seven miles southward, up Dry Brook, is Furlough Lake^ 
where George J. Gould has erected a handsome summer resi- 
dence, within sight of his father's boyhood home near Roxbury. 
Alder Lake, still farther south, is a private fish and game preserve, 
owned by a club of Kingston gentlemen, who sequestrate them- 
selves and their families there in midsummer, and have trout 
every day. The streams which concentrate here have not only 
been long famous for fishing, but soon after the Revolution 
made the place conspicuous by a novel accident. One autumn 
a sudden and tremendous rainfall on the mountains created 
terrific freshets in all the streams. A Western man would now 
say, " There was a cloudburst and the creeks boomed." One old 
farmer was first made aware of the high water by hearing his 



THE TOUK OP THE CATSKILLS. 173 

children crying in the night, and reached out of his high four- 
poster to find their trundle-bed all afloat. It was before harvest, 
and thousands of ripe pumpkins were swept down by the flood, 
which was spoken of ever afterward as Ihe " pumpkin freshet." 
Stages run from Arkville daily, except Sunday, throughout 
the year: For Margaret ville, 2 miles, fare 15 cents; Clark's 
Factory, 6 miles, fare 50 cents; Andes, 12 miles, fare $1 ; Delhi, 
26 miles, fare $1.75; Lumberville, Smiles, fare 50 cents; Union 
Grove, 12 miles, fare 75 cents; Shavertown, 15 miles, fare $1; 
Pepacton, 19 miles, fare $1.25; and Downsville, 26 miles, fare 
$1.50; Lake Delaware, 20 miles, fare $1.50. 

The railway here turns sharply north, and ascends the East 
Branch of the Delaware for a dozen miles to its source on Irish 
Mountain, passing through a country of dairy farms, long ago 
settled by Scotch and Scotch Irish people, where many visitors now 
find rural entertainment. Mount Pisgali * (altitude, 3,425 feet) is 
conspicuous off at the left; and Vly Mountain and Bloomberg are 
prominent peaks in the Summit Range at the right, recalling by 
their names the Dutchmen who first lived at their bases; the 
latter is visible from Tannersville. In the valley of the Schoharie, 
beyond those mountains, are Gilboa, Prattsville (both reached by 
daily stage from Grand Gorge station, fare 50 and 40 cents 
respectively), Iluntersfield, Windham, and various other popular 
villages and objects of interest already spoken of. 

Prattsville has perhaps 1,000 inhabitants, and, in addition to 
the loveliness of its situation and the miles of maple-shaded roads 
that diverge from it in all directions, possesses an extraordinary 
curiosity in what are locally known as the Pratt Rocks, which are 
daily visited by wondering tourists. 

Old Col. Z. Pratt, long since dead, used to own much property 
in and about Prattsville, including this hillside crested with 
beetling rocks. "With the view of improving upon nature," 
Kirk Munro tells us, " the good colonel employed sculptors — of 
whose skill you can judge when you see their.work — to carve 
from these rocks many quaint devices, for which he furnished 
the designs. Horses, dogs, and human figures are mingled in the 
general plan, and as each was finished it was painted white to 
resemble marble. There they still remain, much to the astonish- 
ment of the passing traveler who has not been informed concern- 
ing them. Every bowlder on the hillside is also carved into some 
shape different from that which it originally assumed. The 

* The same name is also applied to a lofty mountain northwest of Windham, 
High Peak, at the head of Mitchell Hollow, in Greene County. 



174 THE TOUR OP THE CATSKILLS. 

whole forms a unique and enduring memorial of the eccentric 
colonel." 

Huntersfield Mountain, six miles northeast, gives one of the 
most far-reaching views in the Catskills; and other neighboring 
heights are well worth climbing. Another object of special' 
interest, one mile distant, is Devasago Falls and the narrow] 
cafion into which the current plunges by a leap of fifty feet. 

Roxhury, the next station, is an old-time dairy-farming village! 
snugly packed away between hills that are dotted with cattlef 
and pastures and dairy barns. It is of growing importance as a 
summer resort, and is interesting to the outside world as the boy- 
hood home of Jay Gould, the deceased railway financier, and of 
John Burroughs, the naturalist -author. It is not generally known, 
by the way, that Mr. Gould was also author of something besides 
railway certificates and Wall Street rumors; but it is a fact that 
when a young man he wrote a history of this region — a book 
now extremely scarce. A pretty memorial church has been 
erected and a free library established here, to the memor}^ of her 
father, by Miss Helen Gould. 

At South Gilhoa^ a short distance farther, the " Delaware 
Divide " is attained, and one has a fine outlook over the valleys 
and through the mountains, the scene increasing in beauty as the 
line swings westward around the base of Mount Utsayantha, 
and runs down to Stamford. 

"Stamford," to quote the enthusiastic, but not overdrawn, 
picture in the Ulster & Delaware's little book, "is the prettiest 
and most charming village in the Catskills. It is seventy-four 
miles by rail from the river, and 1,767 feet above it. The early 
settlers were from Stamford, Conn., after which tliis place was 
named about a hundred years ago. The situation in the lovely open 
valley at the headwaters of the Delaware River, on the western 
border of the Catskills, with lofty mountain-crags rising abruptly 
and grandly almost from the village streets, is most delightful. 
Nature has bestowed liberally here, and man may well admire 
and appreciate. For a summer mountain-home with all the 
requisites — the best air, the best water, the best scenery, the best 
drives, and the most wholesome and pleasing moral atmosphere — 
it will be hard to equal Stamford. Mount Utsayantha towers 
3,203 feet in the air, near the village, the sightly crest being 



THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILL8. 175 

reached by a short drive up the slope over a good road. From 
the tower on this mountain the eye rests upon one of the most 
magnificent panoramas to be found anywhere, covering an area 
of 20,000 square miles, and embracing twenty-eight prominent 
peaks in the Catskill Range. Mount Churchill, a sister peak near 
by, will also be surmounted by a tower, to which a road is 
promised. Utsayantha is an Indian name, in connection with 
which forest tradition contains the details of a sad tragedy in 
which a beautiful Indian maiden, her babe, and her white hus- 
band lost their lives. 

"West of Stamford begin the little streams which braid into 
the great Susquehanna, later. One mile east is Bear Creek, which 
empties into the Schoharie. Thus within a half-hour's drive 
one may drink from the headwaters of three great rivers. One 
hundred years ago a battle between the citizen soldiery and the 
Indians and Tories was fought on the present village site, which 
then contained only two houses." 



Not until 1873 was Stamford thought of by summer vis- 
itors. Then two Brooklyn gentlemen drove over from Pratts- 
ville and sauntered into the seminary, then in charge of Dr. S. E. 
Churchill. Being delighted with the locality, they prevailed 
upon Doctor Churchill to open his house to summer guests, and 
from that time to this the business has steadily increased. 
"Churchill Hall" was erected in 1883, and has since been 
enlarged until now it is a very spacious and elegant hotel. Mean- 
while other hotels have arisen in the village, which has a popu- 
lation of about 1,500, and does much business, especially in 
dairy products. Some of these, as the excellent "Delaware 
House," are open the year round; while others, as the "Grant 
House," " Greycourt," etc., are large summer hotels only. In 
addition to all this, many very attractive private cottages are scat- 
tered all through the village, which looks as prosperous and well- 
groomed as if it were all a part of a city park. The village 
has five thriving churches, a union free school, water-works, 
electric lights, a National bank, numerous stores, a public library, 
and two of the best country weekly newspapers in the State. 
Near the village is " Eagle's Nest," the home of the late "Ned 
Buntline," the story-writer, and originator of the much-abused 
"dime novel," though he can not justly be held responsible for 
the evil imitations which followed and debased his earlier work. 
The Kortrights, Jefferson, Harpersfield, and other rural com- 
munities frequented by city people in summer are within easy 
driving distance. 



176 THE TOUR OF THE CATSKILL8. | | 

Stages from Stamford run daily, except Sunday, throughout 
the year, to Harpersfield Center, 4| miles, fare 50 cents; Daven- 
port, 14 miles, fare $1; Oneonta, 27 miles, tare $2; Jefferson, 
7 miles, fare 75 cents; Summit, Schoharie County, 14 miles, fare 
$1.25; Richmondville, 18 miles, fare $1.50. 

Hohart, four miles farther down the Delaware, is a pretty little 
village, with a history antedating the Revolution. It is the west- 
ern terminus of the Ulster & Delaware track proper; but the 
new Delaware & Otsego Railroad has been completed to Bloom- 
mile, about nine miles beyond, and trains run to that point. 
South Kovtriglit is an intermediate station, four miles south- 
west of Hobart. From Bloomville a stage goes daily on to 
Delhi, eight miles farther (fare, 75 cents), giving a very pleasant 
ride. A stage also runs to Bovina Center, six miles from 
Bloomville (fare, 50 cents). The Delhi stage connects with the ■ 
morning train from Rondout, on Sundays. It is possible to ' 
drive across from here to West Davenport, the terminus of the 
Cooperstown & Charlotte Railroad, and go by rail to Cooperstown ; I 
but a better road and a more interesting country are seen by driv- 
ing or taking the stage down the Charlotte River Valley from 
Stamford, and the distance is little, if any, longer. From 
Cooperstown it is an easy matter to go down the lake and on to 
Richfield Springs, or over to the New York Central Railroad and 
back to Albany, and so make an interesting round-trip. 

This rounds out the Catskill tour. 



V 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND TO THE MOUNT- 
AIN RESORTS. 

Rhinecliff, opposite Rondout, is the landing and railroad sta- 
tion for Rhinebeck, 2% miles inland; stage fare, 25 cents. The 
day-line boats no longer stop here, but this is the terminus of the 
Philadelphia^ Reading & New England Railroad. 

Rhinebeck is an ancient, pleasant, and prosperous town on 
the old post road, now numbering some 2,000 inhabitants, and 
having two hotels. These, several village boarding-houses, and 
many of the long-setlled surrounding farms, are filled with sum- 
mer residents from the city. Its first-comer and the Patroon of 
the region was William Beekman, whose low-eaved stone house 
is still standing on the high ground near the station, and is now 
occupied (with additions) by the Herman ce family. It was built 
prior to 1700, and is an excellent example of the Dutch architect- 
ure of that period. The round port-holes under the eaves, 
whence an attack of Indians might be resisted, are still visible; 
and the fact that here were instituted the first religious services 
is not only a matter of history, but is attested by the very ancient 
grave-yard along the brow of the bluff near the house. Some 
grand views of the river and mountains are given by this road, 
and a visit to Rhinebeck is well worth the trouble. 

A fine villa with a pointed tower, seen a mile above Rhinecliff, 
is " Ferncliff," the Astor residence, formerly the home of William 
Astor, and now occupied by John Jacob Astor third. Next 
comes " Clifton Point," now the home of Louis Ehlers, and espe- 
cially interesting to members of the Methodist Church in America 
as having been built by Freeborn Garrettson, the eminent 
preacher, who married a sister of Chancellor Livingston, and to 
whose energy is due much of the prosperity of that branch of the 
Christian Church. Douglass Merrit lives just beyond at "Lea- 
cote." Opposite, in succession northward, are the estates of 
Allen Terry, D. S. Manchester, A. S. Staples, P. S. Gurney, and 
Charles A. Shultz, the last just above the little landing called 

(177) 



178 KINGSTON TO CATSKTLL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESOETS. 

Flatbush; and still farther along the western bank are passed in 
succession the cement- works of E. M. Brigham, and the residences 
of C. O. Livingston, C. Coddington, and Dr. G. F. Shrady. The 
last is "Pine Kidge," and is a little below the ice-house on Tur- 
key Point. Returning to the eastern side of the river: Oppo- 
site Doctor Shrady is Astor's Point, just below which can be seen 
the brown house with a square tower owned by F. H. Delano; and 
just above it is "Rokeby," built by one of the Astors, where 
J. W. Chanler now lives. The mansion with a Greek-pillared 
front, next northward, and behind Daisy Islet, is "Edgewater," 
the home of E. C. Goodwin; and just beyond is the landing and 
railway station of Barrytown, known of old as Lower Red Hook, 
because it served as the landing-place for Red Hook, an old-time 
posting village two miles inland, and now a station on the Hart- 
ford & Connecticut "Western Railroad. There is a small hotel on 
the wharf. 

Immediately above the landing is the Aspinwall home, " Mas- 
sena"; and half-a-mile farther, on a lofty bluff overlooking the 
cove of South Bay, is Montgomery Hall, a magnificent place, the 
house upon which was built by the widow of that General Mont- 
gomery who fell at Quebec, and which is now inhabited by 
Carleton Hunt. Just north of the Sawkill is St. Stephens 
(theological) Seminary, near "Annadale," the estate of John Bard; 
and more inland, behind Cruger's Island, " Deveaux Park," the 
estate of Col. Charles Livingston, and more lately named 
"Almonte." This brings the catalogue of things of interest to 
Cruger's Island, a peninsula where Col. J. C. Cruger has spent 
money freely and well in landscape gardening, and has set up on 
the southern end of the island a quantity of architectural and 
statuesque ruins, brought many years ago from the prehistoric 
cities of Central America. The channel passes close to them on 
one side and the railroad on the other, but only a mere glimpse of 
these interesting objects is attainable. The mansion was recently 
burned. 

The marshy bayou north of Cruger's Island is North Bay, and 
the headland forming its northern shore is Tivoli, which takes its 
name from the ' ' chateau " erected here before the Revolution by 
one of the Livingstons, but more lately occupied by the family 
of the late Col. J. L. De Peyster. This old house stands a short 
distance back of the railway station and landing, where a small 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOXJNTAIN RESORTS, 179 

village has grown up. Somewhat southward of the chateau 
stands "Callender House," now occupied by Mrs. Kidd; and at 
the foot of its lawn, on the shore of North Bay, was built, in 
1807, Robert Fulton's first steamboat, the Clermont, so named out 
of compliment to Chancellor Livingston, who was the partner and 
financial supporter of Fulton in this far-reaching enterprise. 

Along the post road here, two miles back from the river, upon 
the higher ground, live J. N. Lewis, near Upper Red Hook; then 
the Reverend Doctor Piatt; and next north, the De Peyster fam- 
ily. Tivoli itself is of importance mainly as the point of steam 
ferriage to Saugerties; but just above it is seen, among the trees 
near the shore, an interesting ante-revolutionary residence called 
"Rose Hill," now the home of Gen. J. Watts De Peyster. It is 
related that the British, on their way to burn Livingston's manor- 
house, "Clermont," a little above, in 1777, stopped here under 
the impression that this was the house to be destroyed; but the 
owner, with the aid of his well-stocked wine-cellar, convinced 
them of their mistake, and " Rose Hill" was left unmolested. 

The Western Shore, which we have been passing, is less 
interesting, but worthy of attention. The residences as far as 
Turkey Point, opposite Barrytown, have already been noted. 
North of that point the shore is high, diversified in outline, and 
wooded, and serves as a beautiful foreground to the Catskills, of 
which we here obtain an uninterrupted view; but it is destitute of 
buildings deserving mention until the little valley town of Olasco 
is seen, surrounded by brick-yards. Just south of Glasco is the 
house of Henry Corse, Jr., and north, along the bluff, are the 
homes of Messrs. Polhemus, O. R, Spaulding, and of Mrs, Van- 
derpool, a sister of the late President Martin Van Buren, In the 
rear of these estates runs a highway which is excellent for driv- 
ing. Upon this road, opposite Barrytown, a notable object is the 
ancient Flatbush Church, near which is Aunt Tren's Lake, now 
called Lake Katrine, and turned into a picnic resort. Still farther 
inland, in the lowlands along the Esopus, runs the West Shore 
Railroad, with Olenerie and Mount Marion as stations, to the station 
for Saugerties, a mile west of that town. 

Saugerties is a brisk and attractive village clustered about 
the gorge through which the Esopus finds an outlet to the 



180 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

Hudson. Its beginnings were nearly as long ago as those of King- 
ston—to whose jurisdiction it was attached when all this region 
was ' ' Esopus " — and it has grown by slow and substantial degrees. 
The impression one gets as he strolls about the well-shaded 
streets, and observes the character of the houses and their sur- 
roundings, is that it is a town of a settled and well-to-do popula- 
tion, among which it would be very agreeable to live if you were 
not tormented by abnormal energy. Grand views of the Catskills 
are presented, and some of the finest pictures of the river may be 
had from these high shores, while the rocky cafion of the stream, 
with its great artilicial fall, is an altogether unique feature in the 
scenery of the Hudson. Barkley Heights, south of the creek, is 
an especially attractive part. The Catskills come nearer to the 
Hudson at this than at any other point; the Overlook, Kaaterskill, 
and Mountain houses are in plain sight; and it is only a day's 
drive to any of them or to Tannersville. 

Tlie Platterkill Glove, a great gorge that opens into the very 
heart of the mountains, directly west of the village, is the special 
property of Saugerties in the Catskillian collection of glens. 
The rural district at its entrance is a lovely plain, where nearly 
every farm-house is filled with city people in summer, and at its 
head is the Plaaterkill Hotel, whose stages meet express trains at 
Saugerties; but the Clove itself is the wildest of all the great 
glens that separate the eastern peaks of the range, and the most 
difficult to travel. "Eighteen water-falls may be counted in a 
walk up this clove, and the wild grandeur of the scene has defied 
almost every pen and pencil. The Kaaterskill and Stony cloves 
are more frequented and less hazardous than the grand old Plat- 
terkill, and almost as beautiful; yet with the latter we must feel 
the sympathy that one gives a defiant conqueror. It rests 
captive, if you like, by the present day in one sense, but boldly 
suggestive of the days when its first inhabitants lived in it with- 
out touching one stone or curve, one stream or angle, that nature 
had set there; and the steady stream of progress, or perhaps I 
should say tourist, may go on another fifty years before the 
Platterkill will succumb to the imperious claims of man." 

Saugerties is an incorporated village, but has no bonded 
indebtedness, and taxes are low. It has a daily and two weekly 
newspapers, several public schools, one parochial school, and an 
academy; seven churches, mountain water introduced by the 
gravity system, electric and gas lights, telegraph and telephone 
communication, and several hotels offering good accommodation, 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 181 

as well as numerous summer boarding-houses in the village and 
neighborhood. Stage fare to Mt. Airy House, 50 cents. 

Saugerties is favorably situated for the location of industrial 
enterprises. There is a wide-awake board of trade; transporta- 
tion charges are reasonable; there are two banks of deposit and a 
savings bank; and abundant water-power and labor. The village 
is already the seat of several important industries, among which 
are the Sheffield Company, manufacturing writing-papers, blank- 
books, and envelopes; the Martin Cantine Company, manufactur- 
ing coated papers and cardboard for lithographing purposes, and 
the factory of the Barkley Fiber Company, devoted to making 
wood-pulp by the sulphide process. The great white-lead factory 
at Glenerie belongs here too. Most of these establishments can 
be seen from the steamer, in the narrow harbor which has been 
made by the Federal Government, where the wharves measure a 
mile or more along each side of the creek. Much space there is 
yet available as sites for manufacturing concerns, and others may 
be found west of the village, near the railway. One of the chief 
industries of the place is in the quarrying, dressing, and shipment 
of bluestone (here of Devonian age), which is largely carried on 
at the landing called Maiden, just north of the village. The 
making of brick is also extensively prosecuted in the neighbor- 
hood. The West Shore Railroad, a daily night-line of steamboats, 
and the ferry to the Hudson River Railroad, at Tivoli, keep 
Saugerties in close communication with New York, and make it 
a good place wherein to live or to do business. 

P Not many special objects remain to be pointed out along the 
western shore from Saugerties to Catskill, where we leave Ulster 
and pass into Greene County; the Eastern Shore, however, 
abounds in facts of social and historic interest. Almost opposite 
Saugerties is "Idele,"the old Chancellor Place, \2ite\Yt\ie\ioraQoi 
Miss Clarkson, and the first estate in Columbia County, the 
division-line between it and Dutchess County coming to the river 
at this point; and half-a-mile above it, opposite the bluestone 
wharves of Maiden, is "Clermont," an early manor-house of 
the Livingstons, whose manorial church still stands about four 
miles inland. The present owner and occupant is Clermont 
Livingston, a descendant of that sturdy patriot and statesman of 
the revolutionary period — one of the Provincial Committee of 
Safety, and first Chancellor of the State of New York— Robert R. 
Livingston, from whose time the present structure dates. 

The Story of Clermont. — The Livingstons of New York 
have a long and genuine pedigree, descending from long before 



\ 



183 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

the days of James I. of Scotland, where an ancestor stood nearest 
to that king. In 1600 Alexander, the seventh Lord Livingston, 
was created first Earl of Linlithgow, a title which descended to 
the fifth earl, who, in 1713, was made a peer of the United 
Kingdom; and our local name LinUthgo is derived from that fact. 
But this gentleman joined the Pretender, lost his earldom, which 
has never been restored, and the line is extinct. The fifth Lord 
Livingston, guardian of Mary, Queen of Scots, whose daughter 
was one of " the four Marys" who were playmates and maids- 
of-honor to that unforttmate woman, founded a line of descend- 
ants, largely ministers of the Scotch Kirk, whence sprang an 
adventurous young man named Robert, born in 1654; he, having 
been exiled with his father to Holland, learned Dutch and Dutch 
notions of liberty, hastened to America as soon as he came of ; 
age, and went to live at Albany, where he became prominent, and i 
remained until 1686. By that time lie had purchased from the . 
Indians lands extending for twelve miles along the east bank of 
the Hudson River north of Roelif Jansen's Kill, extending 
inland to the Massachusetts boundary, and embracing upward ) 
of 160,000 acres, or about 250 square miles. This was created by ' 
Governor Dongan into the lordship and manor of Livingston. 
In 1692 he built a manor-house on the bank of the Hudson at the 
mouth of Livingston Creek, but did not actually begin to live in ; 
it until 1711. One of this Patroon's acts was to procure for ' 
Captain Kidd the commission for privateering against pirates, 
which he turned to thrifty account by becoming head pirate 
himself; and more than one person has dug in the grounds of the 
old manor for treasure said to be buried by him. To his eldest 
son, Phillip, was left all this estate except about 13,000 acres 
known as the lower manor, which was given to the second son, 
Robert, who called it "Clermont." Phillip became the patriarch 
of a family whose members occupied distinguished places in the 
early history of the United States, and are still prominent; but 
the lands were divided by his grandson among his heirs, break- 
ing up the old manor, to the ownership of which no special 
dignity had been attached, of course, since the Declaration of 
Independence had abolished all American "lordships." The 
same remark is true of the progeny of the other sous and daugh- 
ters of this highly endowed family. Meanwhile Robert had 
built a manor-house at " Clermont "; and here were boru another 
Robert M., his grandson, who became the chancellor, and a 
group of brothers and sisters who reached almost equal eminence. 
Col. Robert R. Livingston was so well known as an influential 
and ardent republican and soldier that the British were eager to 
cripple him, so far as was possible, by burning his place. After 
the demolition of Kingston, therefore, Vaughan, although aware 
of Burgoyne's surrender and the risk he ran, sailed up the river 
this far in order to destroy it. A wounded British officer and 
an attendant surgeon, prisoners on parole, were at the time the 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN KESORTS. 183 

guests of the family, who were nursing the sick man. These 
officers advised Mrs. Livingston to cease her ijreparations for 
saving what property she could, offering to protect the place 
against destruction. She did not consider it safe to rely upon 
their promises, or at any rate upon their ability. Her negro serv- 
ants therefore heaped what furniture and valuables they could 
into two carts, and the family started for a refuge in Massachu- 
setts. The last load was not out of sight when Mrs. Livingston 
looked back to see the building in flames. The house was 
speedily rebuilt; and when, in 1824, the Mcirquis Lafayette made 
his triumphal visit to the United States, and was proceeding to 
Albany upon the steamboat Kent, which had been chartered for 
his accommodation by the citizens of New York, a whole festive 
evening was spent at Clermont, and many a relative of the family 
was greeted by him as an old comrade in arms. 

Having passed the marshy shallow called Livingston Flats, the 
little landing of East Camp appears on the right, with West Gamp 
opposite on the western shore. These were early settlements of 
the German refugees from the Palatinate who were provided 
with lands here about 1710; and a very interesting old church 
still stands in the midst of fertile farms back of West Camp, 
which dates from those early times. The estate near East Camp 
is R. E. Allen's "Riverview"; and just above is seen the rural 
village Qermantown (the name recalls the Palatinate refugees, as 
does also New Hamburgh, etc.), the abode of several families of 
wealth and social position, and a favorite resort of summer 
residents. 

The mew of the Catskills from this part of the river is very fine. 
One's gaze reaches to the very head of the Kaaterskill Clove, 
where, with a powerful glass, the cottages and hotels at Twilight 
Park and Haines' Falls can be discerned; and south of that great 
glen are seen the graceful summits, beyond Overlook, that smile 
down upon Phoenicia and the Shandaken Valley. As we pass 
on up the river, the front range assumes a fanciful resemblance to 
a colossal human figure lying upon its back — a curiosity of 
shape which the aborigines taught the first white explorers to 
recognize. " The peak to the south is the knee; the next to the 
north is the breast; and two or three above this, the chin, the 
nose, and the forehead." 

Four miles above Germantown the Hudson River Railroad 
tracks will be seen crossing the mouth of a deep bay. This is 
the mouth of Roelif Jaiisen's Kill, which played a very impor- 
tant part as a boundary in the early geography, and distribution 
15 



184 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN llESORTS. 



1 



of lands and jurisdictions; and on the farther side of it is the 
pretty village Linlitligo, just above which are the Burden iron 
mines and furnaces, and the estate of Hermann Livingston, having 
tlie house near the shore at the base of Oak Hill. This is just 
south of Catskill station, on the Hudson River Railroad, -where 
there is a steam ferry (fare, 15 cents) to 

Catskill Village. — This old town, which before the comple- 
tion of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad from Kingston was the 
only point of entrance to the Catskills for tourists and summer 
residents, is picturesque and interesting, aud has a history 
that is full of romantic interest. As early as 1678 several square 
miles of land here was bought from the Indians by Albany men — 
the first Robert Livingston, Gerritson Yan Burgen, Salisbury, 
and others; and several of the dwellings erected by these first set- 
tlers are still in existence and service. Such wars with the 
Indians and troubles with the British soldiers as Kingston and 
the lower towns experienced never came to disturb the peace 
and prosperity of this village growing up along the banks of 
Wildcat Creek,* and it early became one of the most prosperous 
communities along the river. 

The Catskill of to-day is a large, active place, much resembling 
Peekskill in the stately appearance of many of its houses, the 
abundance of mature shade-trees, and the irregular way in which 
its streets wander up and down the hills over which it has spread. 
The business part is mainly in one long street, with shops and 
hotels — a vaSt amount of bustle in summer and sleepy peace in 
winter. ' ' Around about, in a sort of stately indifference to the 
activity of the place as a 'resort,' are the houses of olden time, 
belonging to families who have authorized Americans in their 
feeling that pride of race may be consistent with the most simply 
republican sentiment." And these old places give a dignity to the 
town. He who runs may read their story, since in few instances 
have the original forms been altered. They preserve their Dutch 
symbols, the heavy cross-beams, the generous fire places, or the 
English architecture of the last century so perfectly that their 
tale is assuredly written in stone aud wood-work." 

The village lies in the valley and upon the high banks (chiefly 
the northern) of this creek. A long pier has been built out from 

* This is the translation of the Dutch kat-kil, which has become " Cats- 
kill ''; or, in the plural form, katen-kil, which has been corrupted into 
" kaaterskill " or " kauterskill,'" both of which are ludicrously wrong, but 
too firmly fixed to be made right. The " cat " may have been the panther 
(or puma), or nothing worse than the common lynx. The Indians (Iroquois) 
called the range Onteora— the " land in the sky." 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESOKTS. 185 

the natural point of land to deep water, and all day-line steamers 
stop here. There is also a line of night-boats plying between this 
port and New York. This is the terminus of the Catskill Mount- 
ain Railroad, which runs to the base of the mountains at two 
points — Palenville and Cairo — and whose trains come down to the 
steamboat landing in summer. The West Shore Railroad has a 
station on the west side of the town; and a ferry (fare, 15 cents) 
connects with trains on the Hudson River Railroad; while a neat 
little steamboat, the Isabella, makes four round-trips daily i 
between Catskill and Hudson. j 

Summer hotels abound in the immediate-vicinity of Catskill; 
and the principal business of the whole local district between the 
Hudson and the mountains is the entertainment of city people 
during the hot months. It is a fact, indeed, that the area of 
cultivated land, and the care of farming and dairying, decrease 
year by year, since all the farmers are becoming boarding-house 
keepers, though it is hard for an outsider to understand why such 
a result should follow; why can not an industrious man do both? 
The largest and oldest of the local hotels is the great white 
Prospect Park House, whose long pillared portico is a conspicuous 
object on the bluff north of the village. It commands an exten- 
sive river landscape, is most attractively situated in every respect, 
and has long been patronized by a superior class of guests. On 
Jefferson Heights is the Grant House, admirably located upon a 
breezy, commanding hilltop, not too far from the post office, and 
in possession of a long list of regular patrons. 

Driving and walking routes about Catskill are recom- 
mended as follows by Van Loan, a local authority: 

"Half-a-mile from the village, along the river-shore, is Deeper 
Hook, near the picnic grounds in the lower grove belonging to the 
estate of the artist, the late Thomas Cole " [painter of the "Voyage 
of Life" and other well-known pictures]. "No one should fail to 
visit Austin's Qlen, known also as Hope Hollow and Jefferson, 
about li miles from Catskill. The track follows the course of 
the stream for some distance, and crosses it at a natural fall. 
Near a cave in the glen is a spring of ice-cold water. ... A 
walk on the ' Snake Road' and return, by making a circuit of the 
Grant House, will occupy two hours. 

''For driving: To Leeds (crossing the old stone bridge), and 
back by the way of Kaaterskill or Belfast Mills, an easy two 
hours' ride. To Athens and back; or turn to the left, one mile out 
on the Athens road, and passing the first left (unless a shorter way 
back is desired) and then the two right hand roads, keep on to 



186 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

Jefferson, where the turnpike to Catskill can be taken; or by 
adding ten minutes' time, pass around the Grant House and its 
grounds, returning by the ' Snake Road.' After passing the toll- 
gate, two miles from Catskill on the Cairo road, take the tirst right- 
hand road at the edge of a piece of woods, and follow it directly 
north for two miles and a half to Green's Lake. " 

The Grant House, alluded to above, is situated on the southern 
edge of Jefferson Heights, 300 feet above tide-water, and com- 
mands an almost unobstructed view of not only the Catskills, 
but also of mountains in Vermont and the Berkshire Hills of 
Massachusetts, while the valleys' of both the Catskill and Kaater- 
skill creeks are in the foreground of the view, and form delightful 
walking and riding routes. Every amusement, such as tennis, 
baseball, croquet, bowling, boating on the creek, and billiards, 
have been provided for guests ; and music is provided morning, 
afternoon, and evening. Excellent bass and trout fishing is to 
be had within a short distance from the house. Special attention 
has been given to the water supply and drainage of this hotel, 
making it a most desirable place in which to spend the summer 
months. 

"One of the finest rides is to take the direct Catskill Mountain 
road west to the old King's road, following the latter to a left- 
hand road that brings you to the brick school-house on the Sau- 
gerties road ; thence north to its intersection with the mountain 
road, one mile from the village. Going south of the brick school- 
house, and taking a road that returns through the woods on 
the right hand, affords a very fine view of the mountains. A 
delightfullialf-day ride is to take the old King's road to High 
Falls, crossing the bridge at the falls, and take the right-hand 
road northward to the mountain turnpike near the division of 
the Palenville and Catskill Mountain House roads, halfway from 
Catskill to the mountains." 

The Catskill Mountain Railroad and Otis Elevating Railway 
form one of the principal entrances to the Catskill Mountains, and 
the direct route to the long-famous Mountain House. Its trains 
also run to Palenville as a southern terminus, and to Cairo north- 
ward. The Otis Elevating R}^ connects at Otis Summit with the 
Kaaterskill Railroad (page 167). The stages from Catskill Village 
pass through Palenville en route to Tannersville ; and from Cairo 
stages run in summer to every point of importance in the northern 
part of Greene County. This northern "corner" of the mount- 
ains is perhaps the most attractive, naturally, of the foot-hill 
districts, but is less frequented than some others. 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 187 

The raihray journey to the mountains (fare, to Otis Jc, %\) is a 
foretaste of tlie enjoyment of your vacation in the highlands. 

"The route is well chosen," writes an observant traveler, 
"and leads you away over a country full of richness and peace; 
of idly growing things, great fields of corn, stretches of buck- 
wheat with the bloom of August on it ; into ravines where the 
water rushes with an ancient melody in its movement, and out 
and over a plain beyond which the mountains rise, relegating all 
smaller things into insignificance. . . . The train takes us up 
around Catskill proper and into Leeds, and Leeds was really old 
Catskill— in very truth the place which gave this part of the 
country a name. W hence comes the name I believe the most 
faithful chronicler can not say. It is found in various old records. 
In a letter dated over one hundred years ago, and which the 
present owner kindly allowed me to read, 'Catskill Village' is 
mentioned, but the place now known by that name was then 
referred to as the 'Strand,' or the 'Landing,' for, as I have 
said, the village of Leeds was then Catskill proper. 

" I think it nurtured in men a curious feeling of permanence, 
proprietorship; of desire to keep nature unchanged, glorious, and 
true to her first, best impulses; for there at Leeds one finds so 
few marks of the impress of destroying man; so little which 
could jar the student of form and color as God has laid it upon 
his earth. Whether this has come from jealousy, listlessness, or 
perhaps the appreciation of vastness, one can not say. All that 
can be reduced to fact is that Leeds village, the old Catskill, lies 
simply embosomed by the hills and vales which the Indians and 
Dutch must have known, and it seemed to me a most perfect 
relic of the past, which is fast becoming too traditional to seem 
our own." 

The Catskill Mountain House is the oldest of the large 
summer hotels in these mountains, dating back to coaching days. 

Originally the access was wholly from Catskill by means of 
Concord coaches, or by driving in from Hunter or Tannersville. 
For ten years after the opening of the railroad, in 1882, stages 
climbed the mountain from Laurenceville. But in 1892 an 
inclined cable railway, the Otis Elevating Ry., was put into 
operation from the railroad in the valley to the plateau near the 
hotel. This hoists passengers in ten minutes (fare, 75 cents) from 
Otis Junction to Otis Summit; and it has become not only the 
direct route to the hotels, but one of the regular routes to the 
Kaaterskill and Laurel houses, Haines' Falls, Twilight Park, 
Santa Cruz Park, Tannersville, etc. 

The Otis Elevating Ry. is 7,000 feet long, and in that distance 



188 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

it ascends 1,600 feet aud attains an elevation of 2,200 feet above 
the Hudson Kiver, In length, elevation overcome, and carryinj^ 
capacity, it exceeds any other incline railway in the world. It 
was built and first opened for travel in 1892. It is operated by 
stationary engines and steel-wire cables. A passenger and bag- 
gage car are attached to each end of double cables, which pass 
around immense drums located at the summit of the incline. 
Thus, when one train ascends the other descends, the trains pass- 
ing each other midway. By this arrangement trains carrying 75 to 
100 passengers can be run in both directions every fifteen minutes, 
when necessary, the time required for a trip being only ten min- 
utes. The ascent of the mountains by the incline railway is a 
novel and delightful experience, and alone worth a visit to the 
Catskills. As the train ascends, the magnificent panorama of the 
Valley of the Hudson is gradually unfolded, and the Hudson 
River and the Berkshire Hills in the distance seem to rise up to 
the view of the passenger. The time required for the trip from 
Catskill Landing to the summit of the mountains is ordinarily 
fifty minutes. 

The completion of this quick and easy means of access has 
resulted in increasing the travel to the many resorts on this route. 
A limited train operated during the summer season makes the 
trip from New York to Otis Summit in three and one-half hours. 

The Mountain House stands upon the verge of one of the east- 
ern ledges of South, or Pine Orchard, Mountain, 2,250 feet above 
tide-water, and by reason of its peculiarly advantageous location 
on the front of the range commands a view of the Hudson Val- 
ley which is more extensive than that embraced by the outlook 
of any other hotel. 

The park surrounding the hotel has a valley frontage of over 
three miles in extent, and consists of about five square miles of 
forests and farming-lands, traversed in all directions by many 
miles of carriage roads and paths, aud including within its 
boundaries North and South lakes, both plentifully stocked with 
various kinds of fish, and well supplied with boats. Signs and 
guide-marks indicate the paths to various places or objects of 
interest. The top of South Mountain is easily reached^ a path 
makes the circuit of its summit lower down; plain paths lead to 
Kaaterskill FaUs, along each side of the lake, and steps descend 
to the bottom of the cataract. The Palenville Overlook, or High 
Rock, 1,728 feet above the bed of the cieek, and Moses Rock on 
the Long Level, may be taken in another circuitous walk. These 
are south of the hotel. Good roads and paths lead to similar 
grand outlooks northward— ^.v^U'^s Rock, Prospect Rock, the 
Gurnet Rack, Bear's Den, Newman's Ledge, and the crest of North 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILI. AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 189 

Mountain, the summit next north of South Mountain, whence 
magnificent views north, east, and south are obtained. Many 
longer excursions by driving are possible — going one way and 
returning by another. 

The Hotel Kaaterskill is an immense and splendidly- 
furnished hotel, 2,495 feet above the level of the Hudson River. 
The view from the hotel piazza is awe-inspiring when first seen, 
and of never-ceasing interest when grown more familiar. The 
extension of the railroads almost to the doors of the hotel, within 
the past few years, has been of great convenience to guests, who 
can now approach either by the way of Phoenicia and Stony Clove, 
or b}^ way of Catskill and the Otis Elevating Railway. This ease 
and rapidity of access is highly appreciated by busy New Yorkers, 
who can run up to the Kaaterskill on Saturday afternoon and 
back to the city on Monday morning without the least delay en 
route. The hotel has been lately improved and made more than ever 
attractive to its patrons. The precautions against fire have been a 
matter of especial care. The tanks on the roof are said to hold 
200.000 gallons, and the watchmen and male employes are organ- 
ized into a well-drilled brigade of firemen, acquainted with the 
apparatus and instructed as to proper action in an emergency. 
The neighborhood of the Hotel Kaaterskill is intersected in all 
directions by carriage roads and paths, which connect with those 
of the old Mountain House; and a carriage road from Palenville 
winds up the acclivities of the Kaaterskill Clove, despite the 
assertion of engineers that it was impracticable to build such a road. 

" So numerous and varied," says an appreciative writer, " are 
the attractions and points of interest to be visited near and from 
the Hotel Kaaterskill, that an energetic guest could be kept con- 
stantly on the go for twenty consecutive days, visiting a new 
scene of wonderful beauty each day, and being amply repaid for 
each separate effort. Of the many fascinating points within easy 
walking distance of the hotel, none is more worthy a visit than 
Sunset Rock, half a-mile distant. It is a bare table-rock, over- 
hanging Kaaterskill Clove, with an almost sheer descent of 1,500 
feet. Directly opposite rises, grand and dark, 4,000 feet in the 
air, the Kaaterskill High Peak, offering to view its entire face 
from base to summit. Its sides are closed with a royal evergreen 
mantle, streaked here and there with the ermine of falling water, 
and woven of whispering pines, dark-liued firs, sturdy spruces, 
and the stately, sweet-scented balsams, with tops as straight and 
sharp as lance-tips. . . . Looking down the Clove, its 
embracing mountains form a wondrous frame for tlie fair picture 



190 KIN(iSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUKTAIN RESORTS. 



1 



of the valley of the Hudson widespread beyond, with gleams of 
water in the distance. Turning toward the setting sun, the 
glisten of Haines' Falls h seen at the head of the Clove, and grand 
and somber Hunter Mountain rises far inland. While the west- 
ern sun still bathes the rock in its light, the deep valley below is 
dark and tremulous with the shadows of evening. The true 
lover of nature has no need of artist tongues to tell him that he 
sees a j)erfect picture from Sunset Rock; he knows as he gnzes, 
that were aught added, or one feature taken from it, its complete- 
ness would be marred; and that though other views may be more 
extended or more grand, none can be more truly beautiful. 

" One of the most charming drives from the hotel is down the 
inountain road, with its ' swan's neck ' and " horseshoe ' curves, 
to Palenville, and then up the romantic Clove, in which there are 
many tempting bits of tumbling waters, dark pools, sequestered 
nooks, and grassy glades, to the Kaaterskill and Haines' Falls, the 
two principal cascades in the Catskills. The last grade, near the 
upper end of the Clove, is the steepest on the whole road, and on 
surmounting it the head of the Great Land Slide is crossed. 
Here, each winter, the road is torn from the hillside and hurled 
into the abyss 600 feet below. 

And oft both path and hill were torn 
Where wintry torrents down had borne, 
And heaped upon the ■'cumbered land 
Its wreck of gravel, rock, and sand. 

" From the summit of the Clove the return to the hotel can be 
made by way of the back road over the mountain. 

"The finest all-day drive from the Old Mountain House or 
the Hotel Kaaterskill is to the Overlook Mountain House, over 
the new Plaaterkill Mountain road. The distance is about lifteen 
miles, and the route back from the mountains is to Tannersville 
around Clum Hill, and over tlie Plaaterkill turnpike to the very 
headwaters of tbe Schoharie and the upper end of Plaaterkill 
Clove. From here the new road, four miles in length, opened in 
1880, winds at a dizzy height along the side of Plaaterkill Mount- 
ain, above the clove of the same name." 

The Laurel House is a long-established and somewhat 
less expensive hotel than the others, situated about a mile west of 
the Hotel Kaaterskill, at Laurel House station on the Stony Clove 
line, and near Kaaterskill Falls. It is only a short distance far- 
ther to Haines' Falls and Tannersville. 

KAATERSKILL CLOVE AND RIP VAN WINKLE. 

This great ravine, long ago named Kaaterskill Clove by the 
Dutch settlers, separates High Peak from South Mountain, and is 
the channel of the Kaaterskill, which empties into the Catskill just 
above Catskill Village. West of High Peak (which Is the loftiest 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN KESOKTS. 191 

point of the front range as seen from the Hudson, and nowadaj's 
sometimes called Lincoln Peak) is Roundtop, from the far- 
ther slopes of which springs the Schoharie, a tributary of the 
Mobawk. Fortunately, the natural beauties of this gorge 
sustain the legendary interest with which Indian tradition 
and the imagination of Irving have endowed it. A fine road 
ascends the Clove from Palenville, at its entrance, to Haines' 
Corners, at its head; and the best way to see it is to drive 
through, at leisure, in your own conveyance, or to walk; but 
two lines of stages make trips daily in summer between Catskill 
and Tannersville via Palenville and the Clove. They are very 
comfortable covered wagons (fare, $1); about four hours are con- 
sumed in the trip, and as the passenger is expected to w^alk up 
the last mile and a half or so of steepest road, he has plenty 
of time and chance to see afoot the best part of the ravine. 

The old stage-road to the mountains, however, did not go up 
this Clove, but wound its way up the Sleepy Hollow Ravine, north 
of the Mountain House. This road is still kept in good repair and 
is available for cyclers coming down, but hardly in going up. 

The most sympathetic description of this once delightful stage 
journey is contained in an article by Mrs. Lucy C. Lillie in 
Harper's Magazine for September, 1893, from which the following 
extracts are made : 

" It seems to me that the early spring and late autumn are the 
seasons when this mythically historic spot should be seen to its 
best advantage, for the shifting elements of the summer-time 
force upon it too business-like an aspect. In the very mildest 
part of one October I remember driving up the hilly curve that 
brings on to the brief sweep of land which is a sort of halt before 
the mountain's final ascent. There to tbe right stands the dilapi- 
dated old house, bearing a historic picture of Rip and his flagon, 
and to the left is a terrific gorge, crowded by trees and ferns, and 
which in its lavish break westward shows one of those rich and 
smiling valleys which meet one at every opening in this luxurious 
country. 

"The Rip Van Winkle House, it seems to me, is only a shell to 
bear on its outer side the cracked and worn picture of the dear 
old sleeper of these hills. Turning away from the gorge, we 
asked a man, lounging about, where the picture came from, and 
he informed us it had been there over forty years, and no one 
seemed to know its origin. It is not altogether bad in color, and 
the drawing is not worse than the best sort of a sign-board, while 
it has a certain charm of antiquity which gives it character. It 
hangs just above the tumble-down little doorway of the house, 



192 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

and to the left, bigli up among the rocks and their underbrush, 
is the spot where Rip was supposed to take his sleep of twenty- 
years.* 

" From the moment the real heights are entered upon there 
comes a new feeling in the air — a consciousness, dim at first, but 
fast growing into exhilaration, that we are reaching the final 
uplands of the world. The roads are now almost perfect, and 
the tales of overturned stages and runaway horses are fast grow- 
ing mythical. These last miles up the mountain are at twilight 
full of melancholy charm, and I think that as we go on and 
upward the sense of isolation even from humanity so grows that 
the darkness falls as though a shrouding of nature were only 
what one might expect. Sounds are few; movement is, as it 
were, only part of the still-life about one, and the green to right 
and left darkens into impenetrable night. Then suddenly comes 
a revelation. Here on the very summit of the highest mountain- 
peak we come upon a great lawn and terrace illumined by elec- 
tric light, a hotel all doors and windows and vivid animation. A 
band is playing; there is a vista of a long room with whirling 
figures, while everything round and about is suggestive of youth 
and brilliancy, fashion and luxury. . . . 

" Once up on the mountain-top, the traveler feels impelled or 
urged on into the ordinary stream of summer action at a summer 
resort. Before one stretches a view of hill and dale, of valley 
land, which is beautiful enough to bear every analysis. . . . 
The variety seems almost endless, and new pathways are opening 
on every side. For a time we hesitated about revisiting the 
Kaaterskill Falls, dear to our childhood, since they are so com- 
pletely under business management; but, after all, we were 
entirely repaid even for the laborious climbing up and down 
the cleft, at the foot of which one can see the falls in all their 
glory leaping and tumbling over the finely irregular rock; and 
in spite of the business-like manner in which the visit must be 
made, there is some interest and amusement to be derived even 
from the spirit of speculation and ' sight-seeing' of the native 
and the visitor. There is a little summer-house at the entrance 
to the falls, where you pay your 25 cents, and may invest 
still further, if you like, in candy — the real old-fashioned sticks 

* While Irving, perhaps purposely, left indefinite the precise spot, if any 
he had in view as the locality of the imaginary adventures of Rip Van Winkle, 
common consent for many years has made this Clove and "Rip's Rock " the 
place. No intelligent person, probably, believes that such a character ever 
really existed or had any such an experience; but it is not surprising that 
many believe the story to have been derived from a tradition in circulation 
among the Dutch pioneers, and handed down to Irving's time. But this is 
not true. Irving did nothing more, as indeed he hints in a foot-note, than 
rewrite, with his humorous grace, and apply to the Catskills and the Dutdi 
character, a superstition which has reappeared in every Eiu-opean land and 
nation since earliest times, that certain notable persons were not really dead 
but only sleeping or imprisoned in the earth, awaiting the termination of a 
period, or the breaking of a spell, or some other event which should set them 
free. The Rip Van Winkle house still stands as a part of another. 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 193 

of candy — or such beverages as root beer, lemonade, or soda- 
water, and there are always interesting and entertaining fragments 
of conversation floating about. ... It certainly is not inspir- 
ing to have the falls 'turned on' to order, but those in authority 
declare that this is done by no means simply from speculation, 
for there has been long felt a danger of the water giving out if 
not held in check. Soon, however, the scene itself dispels the 
commonplace feeling which came first. Surely this might well 
be the scene of that old tradition of the hunter and his gourd. 
And upon the rocks, even in the noisy waters high up on either 
side, seems the spell of the mountain's magic — the peculiar lone- 
liness and sense of each rock, each stream, each tall fir, com- 
muning with itself, repeating over and again the strange stories of 
the past." 



' Catskill to Hudson. — Resuming the voyage up the great 
river, the steamer passes close under the beautiful Catskill shore, 
to avoid the grassy flats called Roger^s Island, near the eastern 
bank. In revolutionary times this island was densely wooded; 
and it is related that in the narrow channel behind its curtain a 
great number of river-craft were safely hidden, in 1777, when the 
English fleet came up the river; but the marauders turned back 
before reaching this point. On the hill behind it are the country 
seats of F. E. Church, the artist, and Doctor Sabine. The shores 
above the island grow hilly, and the eye is attracted to a long 
and lofty ridge upon the right, which is beautifully cultivated, 
and suggests a reminiscence. 

The ancient name, it is said, was Rorabuch, but this hill has 
been known as Mount Merino ever since the first decade of this 
century, when a furore over the rearing of merino sheep was 
introduced among farmers of the Eastern States, and the whole 
of this hill was then devoted to flocks of that breed. Although 
a few merinos had been introduced previously, it was not until 
Robert R. Livingston turned his attention to the subject, wrote 
a widespread pamphlet about it, and sent home a large importa- 
tion of blooded stock from Spain and France, where he was 
then United States Minister, that public interest was aroused. 
Enormous sums were paid for the animals at first, but their 
price soon fell to figures little in advance of those for native 
stock, and the vast sheep-pastures were again plowed for 
grain. The extensive wool industry of Vermont, however, dates 
from this period; and unquestionably the grade of American 
sheep was elevated, so that the general result of the speculation 
was beneficial. 



194 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

Mount Merino gives the rambler one of tlie most enchanting 
landscapes in the whole Hudson Valley. On the opposite bluffy 
shore are the estates of George Griffin, W. O. Morrison, and Mr. 
Guntley. As soon as Mount Merino is passed, the grass-grown 
shallows of Hudson Flats divide the channel, and the steamer 
swerves to the right and slows up at the wharf of 

The City of Hudson. — Hudson is a town of 10,000 people 
crowning a bold bluff on the eastern shore. It has a curious his- 
tory, quite different from that of most of the valley towns. 

Dutch and English farmers and fishermen were settled all 
along these hiil slopes, from the earliest times, as tenants of 
the lower manor of the patroonery of the Van Rensselaers, 
but nothing in the shape of a village arose until 1783, when a 
purchase of lands was made by a company of merchants from 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island for the purpose of pursuing 
the whaling business, since during the Revolution the whale 
fisheries of Nantucket were broken up by the English. Settlers 
arrived at once, and were so numerous and influential that in 
April, 1785, the town was incorporated as a city called Hudson, 
the third city in the State, and having much wider limits than at 
present. This name was peculiarly apt, because here, or very 
near here, Henry Hudson ended the voyage of the Half Moon, 
and upon his return from his farther boat voyage halted for two 
days while he stored his vessel with wood and water and bade a 
ceremonious farewell to the natives, who had treated him with 
the greatest cordiality. This locality * was therefore peculiarly 
identified with the navigator. The city stands at the head of 
ship navigation — a fact which had recommended it to the choice 
of its commercial promoters; and preparations were at once made 
for sending out whaling-ships. Their early voyages were very 
successful, and reminders of this adventurous and almost 
forgotten commerce may be seen in the city to-day, as when, for 
example, the stranger comes upon a whale's jaw standing as a 
tall sign-post in the main street. A large trade was done with 
New York, Boston, and Providence, and Southern ports, 
principally with Charleston, S. C, in provisions and general 
produce, bringing in return cargoes of rice and cotton, sugar, 
rum, and molasses. In 1790 the city was made a jiort of entry, 
and with the growth of its commerce it bade fair to become the 
second city in the State. Another natural and important factor 
of growth was its ship-yards. Ship-building was carried on so 
extensively that at one time more vessels were owned in the <?fty 

*It should be mentioned, however, that the best historians do not now 
accept this claim, but assert that the real place was higher up; some say in 
the mouth of Kinderbook, or Stockport, Creek, and others near Schodack. 
NHmporte! 



'*<^ 



d 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 195 

of Hudson than in the city of New York. During the Revolu- 
tion in France, and the A¥ar of 1812 at home, many of the 
vessels owned in Hudson were employed in the Ccirrying trade, 
and several of these were captured or destroyed by the French 
and English, several were lost by shipwreck, and when steam 
navigation became a certainty the decline of the commercial 
prosperity of the city was complete. "In 1815," says an 
authority, "the city was closed as a port of entry; an effort to 
revive the whaling interests was made, but with indifferent 
success, and in 1845 the last ship engaged in the business was 
sold." The high hopes of Hudson were then quenched; but 
this was due not to the fact that the expectations were replaced — 
for under the conditions of transportation which obtained at the 
time when the town was founded the town at the head of 
navigation was in the best commercial position — but because, 
with the rise of steamboats and railroads — new conditions — the 
city at the mouth of the river had so much advantage. 

Hudson stands upon a slate bluff which rises abruptly from 
the river, and from whose brow, now a public promenade, a very 
wide and pleasurable view of the river is presented. It is sixty 
feet above the beach, and across the wide moat of the Hudson the 
long front of the Catskills rises like some Titanic fortification 

With battlements that on their restless fronts 
Bore stars. 

This bluff is the end of a narrow ridge which slopes gradually 
upward for a mile and a-half to Prospect Hill, the high, rounded 
eminence behind the town. Warren Street, the main thoroughfare, 
extends along the crest of this ridge, with the neighboring streets 
sloping downward on each side. The town is very compactly 
built, its streets are deeply shaded, and many of its houses are old 
and excellent; the best of them cluster about the pretty square, 
with its noble trees, in front of the portico of the court house. 

The city has a convenient system of electric cars, and steam 
ferries to Athens and to Catskill. 

Columbia County and its little capital boast of many citizens 
of consequence in the past as well as the present. President 
Martin Van Buren lived here as a young man, and passed his 
declining years near by. Samuel J. Tiki en spent his boyhood in 
this vicinity, and is buried at New Lebanon, not far away. Here, 
in the early decades of this century, were living such prominent 
men as the once famous orator Elisha Williams, and the lawyers 
Ambrose Spencer, William Van Ness, Thomas P. Grosvenor, 
Jacob R. Van Rensselaer, Col. Elisha Jenkins, and others. 



196 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

In the days when these men were young and fashionable, they 
would go in midsummer to the Columbia White Sulj)hur Springs, 
four miles east of the city, where all the world made merry, as 
now they do at Saratoga. A hotel still opens its doors, and a few 
lovers of the old resort annually assemljie there to preserve the 
traditions; but these springs are rarely set down in the lists of 
fashion's watering-places. 

Not far distant, and a station on the Boston & Albany branch 
road, is the quaint and historic village of Claverack, now known 
principally as the seat of "Claverack College," a prosperous 
school of wide repute for both sexes. 

" The handsome and substantial college buildings, surrounded 
by beautiful and well-shaded lawns, and commanding most 
charming views of the romantic scenery in which the neighbor- 
hood abounds, are the features of the village. The old Dutch 
church, with its staring date of 1767 on its western side, shines 
out in old-fashioned red among the towering oaks that keep ward 
over it and its adjoining cemetery. On the opposite crest is 
'Fair view,' the stately mansion built by the late Doctor Flack, 
who v/as the founder of the college, and its president for more 
than thirty years. Down the village street are the residences of 
the descendants of the Muhlers, the Ostianders, and the Van 
Rensselaers, and in a quaint old yellow brick, dormer-windowed 
house are to be seen the lares und 2^c nates of Gen. James Watson 
and other distinguished Webbs. The ' Spook Rock,' in a shady 
swirl of the Claverack Creek, is visited on moonlight nights by 
the neighboring swnins and their sweethearts, who linger to see it 
turn in its shiny bed when it hears the institute bell." 

The distance from Hudson to the Berkshire Hills is only thirty 
miles, and this way comes a large part of the travel between that 
favorite part of Massachusetts and the metropolis. Many New 
Yorkers, sending their horses and carriages up by boat, drive over 
from here. Perhaps more would do so if the excellence of the 
roads and the varied and unsuspected beauty of the scenery in 
this neighborhood were more widely understood. From some of 
the higher points on the country roads, the hills of Berkshire, the 
Taghkanick, and even the Green Mountains, are visible, as well 
as the ever-present Catskills. Beautiful glens and quaint hamlets 
abound, reminding one of the better-known but no worthier 
region about Tarrytown. 

Athens is the classical name of a little ship-building and 
brick-making town opposite Hudson, and connected with it by 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESOIITS. 197 

steam-ferrj. It missed the goal half a century ago, when it 
failed to carry out its contemplated design of bringing the Erie 
Canal to the Hudson at this point. Four miles above Athens the 
promontory long known to old pilots as "Chaney Tinker" now 
bears a light-house, and the prosaic name Four-mile Point; John 
F. Burchell has a house just below it and George Houghtaliug 
another immediately above it. 

Nearly opposite is the broad mouth of Kinderhook Creek, 
with the railway station Stockport and the rural hamlet Columbia- 
mile on its banks. This district was settled very early in the his- 
tory of the State, and queer old "cross-roads" may be searched 
out up the valley of this stream and that of its large southern 
tributary, Claverack Creek. In Kinderhook Village, a few miles 
northwest, was born and reared Martin Van Buren, Governor 
of New York, Jackson's Secretary of State, Vice-President, and 
finally President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. About 
1848 he retired to an estate there, where he resided until his 
death in 1862. 

Half-a-dozen miles farther north the river is narrowed by a 
hilly headland called Nutten Hook (sometimes corrupted into 
" Newtown Hook"), on the eastern shore, where there is a rail- 
way station called Coxsackie, and a small hamlet, whence a steam- 
ferry crosses to Coxsackie Landing on the western bank. 

Coxsackie is said to be from an Indian word meaning " cut- 
banks," and is locally pronounced " Cook-sackie." It is chiefly 
a trading-town, having a station a mile inland on the West Shore 
Railroad, and surrounded by a large area of fine farms, where 
hundreds of town-people find summer board. 

Stuyvesant, the landing and railway station on the east side 
of the river, just above Coxsackie station, w^as formerly the 
" port " of Kinderhook, and noted for its shipments of grain; but 
now it is of little importance. 

The head of natural ship-navigation in the Hudson has now 
been reached; and the steamboat channel henceforth winds 
between low islands and marshy flats, which by and by nearly 
fill the river, while the shores exhibit fertility and the scenes of 
peaceful cultivation, in respect to which there is little that is 
adventurous or picturesque in story to relate. 
16 



198 KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

The elevated sites of the substantial farm-houses and occasional 
country-seats along these shores command an inspiring view of the 
northern Catskills, of which Black Head (3,965 feel) is most con- 
spicuous. Northwest of and beyond that massive summit are 
the serrations of the range that stretches northwestward into 
Schoharie County, with Windham High Peak (3,500 feet). Mount 
Zoar, Mount Hay den, Mount Pisgah, and Sutton Hill as successive 
peaks of prominence. Along their base flows the Catskill Creek, 
and nearer us is the course of Potuck Creek, its principal northern 
tributary. The valleys of all these streams are highly cultivated, 
largely by the descendants of the original Dutch settlers, and it is 
said that that language is still frequently heard in the more 
remote hamlets. 



New Baltimore, the next landing above Stuyvesant, is a little 
town on the western shore, noted for its industry in building 
small river-craft, such as sloops and barges. Just above it is the 
mouth of Haanakrois Creek, which marks the end of Greene 
County (entered just north of Saugerties) and the beginning 
of Albany County. Immediately opposite is tlie boundary-line 
between Columbia County and its neighbor northward on that 
side of the river — Rensselaer County; so that in the rocky islet 
on the left of the channel four counties corner. This prominent 
little Barren Island was once far more prominent, actually com- 
gelling attention. Its true name is Beeren (or " Bears"), and on 
its summit once stood the "castle" of Rensselaerstein, from 
whose wall Nicholas Kroon, the agent of Killian Van Rensselaer, 
the Patroon, compelled passing vessels to dip their colors and 
pay tribute, or take the chances of being sunk by the ordnance 
of the fort. It has now become a favorite picnic resort for excur- 
sionists from Albany and Troy; and a small steamer plies daily 
between the island and Coeyman's Landing. 

In the earliest times the Dutch gave the name Glaverach, or 
" Clover Reach," to this whole district — a breadth of term which 
has caused much indefiniteness in some historical narratives. J^t 
was all embraced in a vast grant of land to the first Van Rens- 
selaer, of whom we shall hear more when we come to the story of 
Albany. Disputes as to ownership under this grant arose ; and 
in 1704 it was conveyed by Killian Van Rensselaer, the head of 
the family at that time, to his brother Hendrick. He in turn 



1 



KINGSTON TO CATSKILL AND THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 199 

devised it to his son Johannes, who erected it, under English 
royal sanction, into the Lower Manor of Rensselaerwyck. 

Immediately above Beeren Island, on the western bank, is 
Coeyman's (pronounced " Queeman's "), a small landing and 
village, a mile or more west of which is the junction where the 
main line of the West Shore Railroad begins to bend westward 
toward Buffalo, while its Albany branch keeps on northward. 
Opposite it another small and pretty village, called Schodack, 
is seen; and five miles farther brings the traveler to the flourishing 
town of Castleton, built upon the front of a steep liill from 
which the spires of Albany and its towering capitol are distinctly 
visible. 

Castleton Bar, formerly known as the " Overslaugh," has 
always been a serious impediment to navigation at this point. 
As early as 1790 State appropriations were made for the purpose 
of improving the channel, but all efforts were unavailing until 
the present system of dykes was begun by the State in 1863. In 
1868 the United States Government assumed the work of com- 
pleting the dykes, and they may now be seen stretching for sev- 
eral miles along the river, effectually accomplishing the purpose 
for which they were intended. 

The Boston & Albany Railroad passes through the northeast- 
ern edge of Castleton, and has a station called Schodack Depots 
recalling the fact that near there (some five miles north) was the 
place which the Indians called Schoti-ack, where was kept ever 
burning the central council fire of the Mohegan Indians, who 
deemed that spot their capital, so far as such a term could be 
applied to their confederacy. 



THE CAPITAL CITY. 



i 



Albany stands upon the west bank of the Hudson, 145 miles 
above New York and about ten miles south of the mouth of the i 
Mohawk River. Opposite, on the east bank, is the old town of 
Greenbush, or East Albany, and the population of both shores is 
dense for a dozen miles above, where the cities of Troy, West 
Tro3% Cohoes, Lansingburgh, Waterford, etc., succeed one 
another with little that is "truly rural" between them. 

The steamboat wharves at Albany are close to the business 
center of the city and to the two railway stations, which are 
themselves close together at the river-side. The New York Cen- 
tral & Hudson River Railroad and the Boston & Albany Railroad 
unite in East Albany, and cross the river into the Union Station, 
where, also, certain through northern trains of the Delaware & 
Hudson system enter, so that passengers between New York and 
the north (Montreal) do not need to change stations. The West 
Shore Railroad and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company's 
Railroad use jointly a station between the Union Station and the 
river, just around the corner of a single block. Both of these sta- 
tions are only about five minutes' walk from the landing of all the 
Hudson River steamboat lines. All of the hotels of the city, also, 
are within easy walking distance, Stanwix Hall, and several minor 
hotels being just across the street from the exit of both stations; 
the "Kenmore," the largest hotel, one block farther away. 

The Union Station contains a large dining-room, but fruit and 
edibles may be bought far more cheaply just in rear of the 
station. 

Historical Sketch of Albany. — It will be remembered that 
Hudson's men ascended the river in their small boat as far as the 
mouth of the Mohawk. Whether it was by tbeir recommenda- 
tion or not, the adventurers who followed them chose this point 
as the site of one of the first Indian trading-posts. It was Vvell 
chosen, for here naturally came to the river the great trail that 
crossed over to the Mohawk at Schenectady, and then followed 
that valley westward to the lake country and to Ontario; and also 

(200) 



THE CAPITAL CITY. 201 

trails southwest ward to the Susquehanna, and trails and canoe 
roads north and east. It was a central point on the Indian high- 
ways, as it has become upon the transportation routes of civiliza- 
tion; and moreover it was the head of natural sloop navigation. 

Albany, according to Lewis Morgan, author of TJie League of 
the Iroquois, owes its Iroquois name to the openings there between 
the Hudson and the Mohawk. Long anterior to the foundation 
of the city this site was well known under the Seneca name 
Ska-neh^-ta-de, whence followed the name of the Hudson, Skd-ne¥' 
ta-de Oa-hun'-da, "the river beyond the openiugs." It would 
thus appear that Schenectady has appropriated the name which 
rightfully belongs to the city upon the Hudson. 

In 1614, as we read in H. P. Phelps' admirable Albany Hand- 
book and Guide to the Capitol {AAhanj: Brandow & Barton, 1884), 
Henry Corsta^nsen, under a grant of the United New Netherlands 
Company, erected a stockaded trading-house on the island just 
below the present city. It was garrisoned by ten or twelve men, 
who had a cannon and twelve stone-guns with which to defend 
themselves. Here they carried on an extensive fur trade with the 
Indians, until the spring freshet of 1617 nearly destroyed their 
domicile, when they moved ' ' up town " and erected a new fort 
on the hill near the Normanskill. The West India Company 
erected a fort in 1623 on a spot near what is now the steamboat 
lauding, and called it Fort Orange, in honor of the prince who 
presided over the Netherlands; but only eight families were resi- 
dent here. In 1629 the feudal system oi imtroonship was instituted 
in America by act of the Dutch States General. Any member of 
the West India Company who should plant a colony of fifty or 
more adults in Dutch America was to be acknowledged a 
" Patroon of New Netherlands," and was given permission to 
acquire lands extending sixteen miles along any navigable river, 
and inland indefinitely. "The Patroons possessed," as Phelps 
points out, "absolute title to the soil; had a monopoly of fishing, 
hunting, and grinding; of all mines and minerals, and a preemp- 
tion right of buying the colonists' surplus grain or cattle; their 
courts had jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, in the latter 
even punishment by death; colonists could not leave the colony 
without written permission, and after their terms of service were 
fulfilled they were compelled to return to Holland. The tenants 



302 THE CAPITAL CITY. 

were in fact little better than serfs, and modifications of the 
enactment soon followed; not out of regard for the people, but 
because the Patroons waxed arrogant and came into conflict with 
the West India Company. None was more conspicuous in this 
respect than the Patroou of this region, Killian Van Rensselaer. 
He was a pearl merchant of Amsterdam and one of the West 
India Companj^'s directors, and acquired lands which soon 
included a tract called Rennselaerwyck, forty -eight by twenty-four 
miles in extent, reaching from Beeren Island to the Mohawk. 
His colonists began to arrive in 1630, at once built a brewery, and 
soon constituted a village separate from Fort Orange, named] 
Beaverswyck. The lordly pretensions of this Patroon, who arro- 
gated to himself baronial powers and privileges that interfered 
with the company's fur trade, led to quarrels in which he was 
compelled to let go of the land about Fort Orange, although he 
kept possession of all the remainder; and the results of that feudal 
tenure led to the 'anli-rent war' of forty years ago, and to long 
litigations that are scarcely ended yet, for the estate still exists asi 
a land word in this and in Rensselaer counties. The fifth Patroon, 
Stephen, was the last to receive the title and entire estate, and the 
entail ceased at his death in 1839." 

When in 1664 the province fell into the hands of the English, 
the name of the settlement was changed to Albany, in honor of 
the Duke of York and Albany, who had modestly attached his 
first title to the seaport at the mouth of the river; and in 1686 the 
town was incorporated a city. 

Albany, as the center of the trails and fur trade south of the 
St, Lawrence, was much resorted to by Indians and by the 
scarcely less savage French coureurs du hois, who ended each 
transaction by a grand spree. But the town was always well 
fortified with palisades, and during the terrible closing years of 
that century, when the Indian massacre at Schenectady (1690) 
was only one of many such outrages, Albany was safe within its 
stockades, which reached from the river back to Lodge Street, 
and from Steuben Street on the north to Hudson on the south 
side. Here, in the Indian and Canadian wars half a century 
later, rendezvoused the armies of Amherst and Abercrombie, and 
then proceeded against the Champlain forts; and here were 
lighted early the fires of patriotism which burned steadily during 



' 



THE CAPITAL CITY. 203 

all the period of the Revolution, when the place was constantly a 
depot of supplies, and an outpost always threatened, but never 
reached, by British expeditions from Canada or from the Indian 
countr} 

This was the meeting-place of the Continental Congress of 
1754. in which all the Colonies north of Virginia convened by 
delegates to discuss the proposal of a federal union. The plan 
proposed by Benjamin Franklin was agreed to, but none of the 
Colonies would ratify it because it delegated too much power to 
the general government; while the king refused to approve of it, 
on the other hand, because it did not go far enough in that direc- 
tion. But the Constitution of the United States, adopted only a 
dozen years later, was so closely similar that the idea of the 
Union may be said to have been first formulated here in Albany 
in 1754. Washington visited the town in 1783, and dined in the 
Schuyler mansion; and Lafayette, who had commanded the post 
for a time during the war, revisited the city in 1784. In 1790 
the census showed that Albany County had a population of 75,150 
(almost twice as much as New York County), and the city, 3,506. 
It was on the emigrant road to the Genesee country, " the West " 
of that day, and grew rapidly. In 1797 it was made the capital 
of the State, and by 1800 numbered 5,349 citizens, and in 1810, 
10,762. The first steamboat began running here in 1811, and the 
next year Greeubush was chosen as the headquarters and rendez- 
vous for General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief of the armies 
in the second war with Great Britain, and thousands of troops 
were gathered in and about the city. This stimulated the growth 
of the town to 12,541 in 1820, and the opening of the Erie Canal 
to this point in 1825 (the occasion of great local rejoicing) 
doubled these figures, which had increased to 33,000 in 1830. 
Two years later (1832) saw the first railroad train running 
between Albany and Schenectady; but it was not until 1851 that 
the Hudson River road gave a through rail connection to New 
York, the first train making the run in three hours and fifty-five 
minutes, including stops; nor until 1853 that the consolidated rail- 
roads were opened westward to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, and 
north to Montreal; and it was six years later (1859) before the 
opening of the Delaware & Hudson's route to Binghamton and 
the Pennsylvania coal region. Within late years the city's 



204 THE CAPITAL CITY. 



1 



advancement lias been steady, and the population now exceeds 
100,000. 

Besides its political and social prominence the city is largely 
engaged in lumber, grain, and shipping interests, and in manufact- 
uring, particularly stoves and other ironware. 

The tour of Albany and its sights is easily accomplished. 
The capitol, State museum, and most notable buildings are all 
within walking distance of the boat lauding, railway stations, and 
hotels; and for farther explorations electric street-cars and pub- 
lic carriages are available in all directions, the cars running 
north as far as Troy, west to the stock-yards and shops of West 
Albany, and south to " The Island." 

The steamboat landing is an open space at the foot of Broad- 
way, whence a walk of five minutes to the right (northward) 
leads you to the foot of State Street, the business center, where 
all street-cars converge. 

The covered way from the exit of the Union Station, or 
Maiden Lane from the Delaware & Hudson Station, takes you 
in two minutes to the same central point. Broadway is the oldest, 
most varied, and important of the north and south streets. Its 
great width opposite the Union Depot is due to the fact that the 
middle was formerly occupied by a market; and its extensions 
southward and northward were, respectively, the Albany Turn- 
pike and the Troy Road. Its junction with State Street forms a 
proper starting-point for any tour of the city. 

State Street is the wide avenue which, starting at Broadway, 
slopes straight up the hill to the capitol, and then, with a slight 
southern displacement by this obstruction, stretches west to and 
beyond Washington Park, as the " high street " of the city. Its 
great width is due to the fact that originally it was a double 
street, in the center of which stood the public buildings of the 
early history of the town. A picture of it at the opening of this 
century is preserved in Mrs. Grant's Memoirs of an American 
Lady: 

"The city of Albany was stretched along the banks of the 
Hudson; one very wide and long street lay parallel to the river, 
the intermediate space between it and the shore being occupied 
by gardens. A small but steep hill rose above the center of the 
town, on which stood a fort intended (but very ill adapted) for 
the defense of the place and of the neighboring country. From 




THE CHASM. CATSKILL CREEK, 



THE CAPITAL CITY. 205 

the foot of this hill another street was built, sloping pretty 
rapidly down till it joined the one before mentioned that ran 
along the river. This street was still wider than the other; it 
was only paved on each side, the middle being occupied by pub- 
lic edifices. These consisted of a market-place, or guard-house, a 
town hall, and the English and Dutch churches. The English 
church, belonging to the Episcopal persuasion and in the diocese 
of the Bishop of London, stood at the foot of the hill at the 
upper end of the street. The Dutch church was situated at the 
bottom of the descent where the street terminated; two irregular 
streets, not so broad but equally long, ran parallel to those, and 
a few even ones opened between them. The town in proportion to 
its population occupied a great space of ground. This city, in 
short, was a kind of semi-rural establishment; every house had 
its garden, well, and a little green behind; before every door a 
tree was planted, rendered interesting by being coeval with some 
beloved member of the family; many of their trees were of a 
prodigious size and extraordinary beauty, but without regularity, 
each one planting the kind that best pleased him, or which he 
thought would afford the most agreeable shade to the open por- 
tico at his door, which was surrounded by seats, and ascended by 
a few steps. It was in these that each domestic group was seated 
in summer evenings to enjoy the balmy twilight or serenely clear 
moonlight. Each family had a cow, fed in common pasture at 
the end of the town. In the evening they returned all together, 
of their own accord — with their tinkling bells hung at their necks 
— along the wide and grassy street to their wonted sheltering 
trees, to be milked at their masters' doors." 

|. THE STATE CAPITOL. 

Although the Legislature convened first in Albany in 1797, a 
special building was not completed until 1808. Then the ''old 
capitol " was built on the hill, just in front of the present structure, 
the site of which was then occupied by the old English fortifica- 
tion, Fort Frederic. In the course of half a century this building 
was outgrown, and as early as 1863 a proposal looking toward a 
new one was introduced into the Legislature. Various cities 
made strenuous efforts to have the capital changed to their towns; 
but the general sentiment of the State, outside of New York 
City, was in favor of its remaining at Albany; and this city was 
munificent in its grant of land adequate for the purpose. Two 
appropriations, aggregating $500,000, were made, and in 1869 
foundations were begun for a building expected to cost $4,000,000, 
after plans by Thomas Fuller. These foundations are of course 
of the most substantial character, resting upon a bed of concrete 



206 THE CAPITAL CITY. 

four feet in thickness, fifteen feet below tlie surface, and inclos- 
ing "a sub-basement containing 114 diiferent apartments. The 
corner-stone was laid with masonic ceremonies on June 24, 1871, 
and since then the work has progressed, now rapidly, now slowly, 
to the present time, under changing commissions, superintendents, 
and architectural advisers. By the end of 1878 it was completed 
so far as to be partly occupied, and on the evening of January 7, 
1879, the new capitol was first occupied, the Senate meeting in 
the chamber intended for the Court of Appeals and the Assembly 
in its own chamber. This event was signalized by a large and 
brilliant reception, in which the city of Albany entertained 8,000 
people, including many highly eminent men and women. A 
more formal public occupation occurred on the evening of 
February 11th; but the Senate Chamber was not occupied untU 
March 10, 1881. 

The site of this great building, which is so conspicuous from 
every approach to Albany, is the central hilltop of the city, 
which had been crowned with the "castle," or "fort," of the 
colonial town from the earliest times. The surface of the park 
is 155 feet above the Hudson, and embraces 7f acres. 

"The size of the structure," says Phelps, "impresses the 
beholder at once. It is 300 feet north and south by 400 feet 
east and west, and with the porticos will cover three acres and 
seven square feet. The walls are 108 feet high from the water- 
table, and all this is worked out of solid granite brought, most 
of it, from Hallowell, Me. . . . 

" The impression produced varies with various persons. One 
accomplished writer finds it ' not unlike that made by the photo- 
graphs of those gigantic structures in the northern and eastern 
parts of India, which are seen in full series on the walls of the 
South Kensington, and by their barbaric profusion of ornamenta- 
tion and true magnificence of design give the stay at-home Briton 
some faint inkling of the empire wdiich has invested his queen 
with another and more high-sounding title. Yet when close at 
hand the building does not bear out this connection with Indian 
architecture of the grand style; it might be mere chance that at a 
distance there is a similarity; or it may be that the smallness of 
size in the decorations as compared to the structure itself explains 
fully why there is a tendency to confuse the eye by the number of 
projections, arches, pillars, shallow recesses, and what not, which 
variegate the different fa9ades. The confusion is not entirely 
displeasing; it gives a sense of unstinted riches, and so far 
represents exactly the spirit that has reared the pile.' 



THE CAPITAL CITY 207 

" On the Other hand, Mr. Edward A. Freeman, the English 
historian, was, by the general look of the city, carried so com- 
pletely into another part of the world ' that if any one had come 
up and told me in French, old or new, that the new capitol was 
**le chateau de Monseigneur le Due d'Albanie," I could almost 
have believed him.'" 

The building is constructed around a central square court, 
and is in architectural plan a modified style of Italian Renais- 
sance. Tiie roof, at least so far as the east front (looking down 
State Street) is concerned, is to be further modified by the 
extension there of a great gable, which will lend mass and dignity 
to that, its principal aspect. The center of the structure is to be 
surmounted by a lofty tower, capped with dome and pinnacles; 
and the east, or main, front is to be further adorned by an 
extensive portico containing a grand staircase, etc. It is not 
possible to fairly judge of the architectural effect of the great 
structure until these additions are made, and the whole is brought 
into a structural harmony now lacking. The total cost will b^ 
not less than $20,000,000. 

The entrances, pending the completion of the east front, are iu 
the north front, on Washington Avenue, and in the south front, 
on State Street. These admit to the second floor. 

The first, or ground, floor has little of interest to the sight- 
seer. Its rooms are devoted to committees and to various depart- 
mental ofiices. 

The second, or entrance, floor, however, contains not only 
many oflices, including that of the Secretary of State, but two 
objects of special interest, the Governor's Room and the Golden 
Corridor. 

The Governor's Room is situated in the southeast corner of 
the second, or entrance, story, and is reached by the South-side Cor- 
ridor. This corridor is lighted by elevated windows, and is 
wainscoted with colored marbles, lending a richness and variety 
of color to the hall which are exceedingly pleasing. The Execu- 
tive Chamber itself is a room 60 x 40 feet in dimensions, wains- 
coted to a height of fifteen or sixteen feet with mahogany set in 
square panels. Above the line of carved molding that surmounts 
it are hangings of Spanish leather, and the ceiling is paneled in 
dark wood. 



208 THE CAPITAL CITY. 

The Golden Corridor is in the east end of the north side, at 
the head of the assembly staircase, and is 140 feet long, extend- 
ing along the whole side of the north center. Seven large win- 
dows occupy bays separated by piers twenty feet apart, between 
which are turned arches that sustain a low and ribless groined 
vault. A critic's description and comment upon it are in these 
words: 

' ' The piers are covered with a damask of red upon umber. 
The angle-moldiugs are solidly gilded. The crimson wall-screen 
on both sides is overlaid with a simple reticulation of gold lines 
framing ornaments in yellow. The whole vault is gilded, and 
upon its ground of gold, traversing each face of the vault, is a 
series of bands of minute ornament in brown, scarlet, and deep 
blue. The method — this close mosaic of minute quantities of 
crude color — is entirely oriental; and the effect is oriental also. 
The varying surfaces of the vaulting, each covered with fretted 
gold, give a vista lengthened by the dwindling arches, alive 
with flashing lights and shimmering shadows; and under the 
iridescent ceiling there seems always to hang a luminous haze. 
In the quality of pure splendor there is no architectural decora- 
tion in this country which is comparable to this." 

The Halls of the Courts and Legislature and the Library give 
to the third floor a higher interest than belongs to any other. 
Elevators on both sides of the building will carry one to these 
upper stories, or the ascent may be made by one or other of the 
noble staircases which lead to the Assembly Chamber on the 
north side and to the Senate on the south side. Most persons 
prefer to walk up one of these stairways. 

The Senate Staircase ascends from the ground floor, east of 
the entrance on the south side, to the highest gallery, and is 
probably the most magnificent work of its kind in the country. 
It is of massive brown sandstone, supported by, and supporting, 
arches whose pillars and edges are ornamented with elaborate 
carvings, lighted by openings, and overlooked by balconies. 
The greatness and strength of the structure, the elaborateness of 
the decoration, and the harmony and softness of the coloring 
combine to give an effect of dignity and richness perhaps j 
unequaled in the world. It takes its name from the fact that iti 
leads to the room in which the Senate sits, to which the visitor is 
conducted by an ornate passage-way called the Corridor of 
Columns, 



THE CAPITAL CITY. 209 

The Senate Chamber is at the east end of the south side, and 
was decorated by the late H. H. Richardson, who is regarded as 
America's greatest architect. Passing through lobbies wainscoted 
with marble, a room is entered whose sumptuous adornment is 
beyond realization until one has studied it long and closely. The 
light comes through great windows of stained glass, "iridescent 
and opalescent," set in frames of stoue most intricately carved. 
Between the windows the wall is of Tennessee marble; but above 
them is a broad space paneled with Mexican onyx. Above this 
paneling is a string-course of simply carved marble, and above 
this an upper tier of windows, six in number. Surmounting all 
is set a broad golden frieze, consisting of a surface of gilded 
lead, beaten by hammers and ^stamps into an arabesque orna- 
ment in low relief that is exceedingly effective. From this 
frieze, and supported upon carved corbels of stone, spring the 
great beams of the oak ceiling, ehiborately paneled and deco- 
rated. The series of arches underneath which the balcony-like 
galleries are placed, the grand fire-places on each side of the 
entrance door, and the heavy, ornate chandeliers are other A^ery 
notable features in the magnificent design of this palatial hall. 

" The doorway and fire-places are constructed of marble, as is 
the space between them. The openings of the fire-places are 
about six feet in height and something more in breadlh. The 
cheerful effect of these when filled with blazing logs, the flames 
of which are reflected on the polished onyx and marble from all 
sides of the room, may well be imagined. . . . The chim- 
ney-pieces are finished with and surmounted by hoods slanting 
back to the wall at a steep angle, and ornamented with crockets 
and carved bands. The whole chimney-pieces are about half as 
high as the room, reaching to the string-course below the gold 
frieze. Above the doorway and wall space of Knoxville marble 
we see the wall-space up to the frieze covered with the Mexican 
onyx panel, and like the frieze in greater extent of surface than 
elsewhere. So placed, these two great fields of on3^x and gold 
catch the broad southern light and afford a great diversity in 
the play of color; and offer the necessary repose to the eye after 
looking at surfaces broken by the arches of the windows on the 
south, east, and west walls." 

The Assembly Chamber, at the other end of the building, on 
the same floor, is perhaps equally magnificent in a different way. 
It is larger and less jeweled, so to speak; but the sense of 
grandeur is very striking. It measures 84x140 feet, but the 



210 THE CAPITAL CITY. 

galleries restrict the floor-space of the chamber proper to eighty - 
four by fifty-five feet. 



The elevated Speaker's desk faces the entrance; behind it is 
the press gallery, and before and beneath it the long desk of the 
Assembly clerks. The seats of the members are at small, green- 
topped desks, arranged in six concentric rows. These desks, and 
the long desks of the Speaker and clerks, are all of dark and 
richly polished mahogany. At the rear is a lobby, shut off from 
the floor by a broad rail. The limits of the "floor" are defined 
by four enormous pillars of rose granite, which spring from 
white marble bases to white marble capitals. These originally 
supported a massive grained arch of stone, the largest in the 
world, whose peak was fifty -six feet above the floor. This was 
flanked and interwoven with other noble arches of creamy sand- 
stone, " divided by the sweeping lines of deeper toned ribs, * » * 
and fretted with wide belts of ornament climbing their climbing 
courses, touched with the gleam of gold, and standing out from 
hollows filled with deep ultramarine and burning vermilion, to 
the ' dark backward and abysm' of the remotest vault." At that 
time the norlh and south walls were covered by great allegorical 
paintings from the brush of Richard M. Hunt — the only work of 
the sort he ever did. They represented the Flight of Night and 
The Discoverer. Unfortunately, however, the mechanical work- 
manship of this splendid stone canopy was found to be defective, 
and it became necessar}^ to take it down. The arches overhead 
have, therefore, disappeared. 

In their place is a ceiling which is itself sufficiently beautiful. 
It is of carved and polished oak. Massive beams stretch from 
pillar to pillar in four directions, dividing the ceiling into great 
sections. These beams and brackets are elaborately carved, and 
the spaces between them are divided into many small square pan- 
els, each deeply recessed and carved profusely, but in excellent 
taste, so that the effect is exceedingly fine, whether seen by day- 
light or lamplight. 

The walls are finely in keeping. On each side of the room are 
three great windows, each capped by an arched space filled with 
stained glass; and the wall about these rounded heads, and the 
spandrels between them, are filled with a broad design, colored 
and cut in low relief, as if largely tiled. Above this isajiori- 
zoutal band of graystone panels, and above that again a row of 
many windows, just under the ceiling, which are filled with 
stained glass, rich and thick, flooding the auditorium and the 
rose-red pillars and the carved oak and mahogany of ceiling ^nd 
furniture with a vari-colored radiance. 



THE CAPITAL CITY. 211 

The Court-Room of the Court of Appeals, in the southeast 
corner of this same (the third) floor, over tlie Executive Chamber, 
is another apartment worthy of examination. It is 53 x 35 feet 
in dimensions, and lofty in proportion, and is finished in oak, 
with carved stone about the windows, and much carving upon 
the rails that divide the panels, over the great fire-place of Sienna 
marble and onyx, and about the august seat of the justices of 
this highest of State Courts. Adjoining are a suite of other 
rooms devoted to the purposes of the court, all appropriately 
arranged and decorated, and like this court-room adorned with 
valuable portraits of distinguished men. 

The State Library occupies extensive quarters on this same 
floor at the west end of the capitol, and should not be overlooked 
by the visitor interested in books. Its history begins in 1818, 
and it has grown to something like 150,000 volumes. It is sus- 
tained by a moderate annual appropriation, and is open to con- 
sultation by any person. While every sort of book is to be found 
upon its shelves, its specialties are the Law Library — iu which it is 
excelled only by the Library of Congress — and its books relating 
to American history and development. Among these are many 
nearly unique, and of great value in the market as well as to stu- 
dents. Many manuscripts of this nature are included. "In 
1853 the Legislature authorized the purchase of the correspond- 
ence and other papers of George Clinton, the first Governor of the 
State. These manuscripts have been bound in twenty-three folio 
volumes, and a calendar since added. A copious index to all 
names mentioned in these papers is now in preparation. Enough 
of other Clinton manuscripts have since been procured to fill ten 
similar volumes. The papers found on the person of Major 
Andre by his captors at Tarrytown were among the Clinton 
manuscripts, and have been framed and put under glass. The 
papers of Sir William Johnson, covering a period of the history 
of Central New York from 1733 to 1774, were also purchased and 
arranged and bound in twenty-two folio volumes." These 
papers have been thoroughly indexed, and the catalogue of the 
whole library, including its 65,000 or more pamphlets, is very 
complete. 

" In addition to the books, other articles of value and interest 
have drifted in as to a safe place of deposit for the inspection of 
17 



213 THE CAPITAL CITY. 

visitors. Among these are a sword and pistol and the surveying 
instruments of Washington; the swords presented to General 
Worth by the United States, by New York State, and by the city 
of Hudson for brilliant services in the Mexican War; busts of 
some of the eminent statesmen of New York; portraits in oil of 
many of the governors and regents of the university, and a 
numismatic collection of considerable value. It is a reference 
librar}', and only members of the Legislature, heads of depart- 
ments of the State government, and the trustees of the library 
have the privilege of taking books to their residences. The 
library is open daily from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m., except Sundays, and 
holidays, and from the 5th to the 20th of August; during sessions 
of the'Legislature till 6 p. m., except Saturdays, when it closes at 
5 p. M." 

The fourth, or gallery, floor is so called because it gives access 
to the public galleries of the Senate, Assembly, and Court 
chiimbers. It contains, besides these entrances, the rooms of a 
number of government departments, and one of its corridors, 
that at the west end on the south side, is devoted to a museum of 
military records and relics, which to the right-thinking patriot 
is perhaps the most impressive sight in Albany. 

"This collection," Mr. Phelps tells us in his Handbook^ which 
should be in the hands of every intelligent visitor at the capitol, 
" grew out of a desire to perpetuate in some way the patriotic 
memories of the War of the Rebellion. It was at first proposed 
to erect a suitable building for the purpose, and over $:]0,000 was 
subscribed by towns and by individuals. This money is now on 
deposit,, and the interest helps to support the bureau, which is 
under the charge of the Adjutant-General. The objects of 
greatest interest are the hattle-flags of the various State regiments, 
b04 in number, some of them torn in shreds, others still bearing 
plainly the names of the battles in which tlie regiments pariici- 
pated. These are in cases in the Senate gallery corridor. There arc 
twenty-eight rebel ensigns captured from the enemy, and many 
other trophies to interest the curious. Over 3,000 photographs 
have been collected, and many are framed and on exhibition. 
Theie is also a large collection of newspapers in which the history 
of the war was written in the time of it; many specimens 
of ordnance; some relics of the Revolutionary War and of 
the War of 1812; an interesting collection of Lincoln memo- 
rials, including a piece of the bloody shirt taken from his 
person on the night of the assassination. Another interesting 
group is the clothes worn by Colonel Ellsworth when he was shot 
down in Alexandria, and the rebel flag which he took from the 
Marshall House, an act which led to his untimely death. " 

When on this floor the curious visitor will take occasion to look 
out upon the great interior court, and examine the coats-of-arms 



THE CAPITAL CITY. 213 

carved over the six dormer windows that open upon it from the 
attic. These coats-of-arms are those of the six colonial families 
deemed most prominent in the history of the State, which are as 
follows: On the north side, east, Livingston; middle, Schuyler; 
west, Stuyvesant — on the south side, east, Tompkins; middle, 
Clinton; west, Jay. 

But there is much else to see in Albany besides this magnifi- 
cent capitol. Many notable buildings surround, or are within 
easy distance of, this elm-shaded Capitol Square at the head of 
the broad and historic State Street. The old-fashioned brown- 
stone building at the northwestern corner is the Boys' Academy, 
which has been a famous school ever since 1815; and the bit of 
green in front of it is called Academy Park. 

"It was in the upper room of this building that Joseph 
Henry, who from 182(3 to 1832 was one of the professors, first 
demonstrated the theory of the magnetic telegraph in transmit- 
ting intelligence, by ringing a bell through a mile of wire strung 
around the room. It only remained for Professor Morse to invent 
the code of signals and the machine for making them, and the thing 
was done. As has been well said, 'The click heard from every 
joint of those mystic wires, which now link together every city 
and village all over this continent, is but the echo of that little 
bell which first sounded in the upper room of the Albany Acad- 
emy,' It was in this building that the well-known Bullions gram- 
mars were written, and first used as text-books by their author, 
professor of Latin and Greek in the institution. For many years 
T. Romeyn Beck, who created the science of medical Jurispru- 
dence, was the principal, and at all times the institution has main- 
tained an enviable reputation. On the 26th of June, 1863, a 
semi-centennial celebration was held, when it was found that more 
than 5,000 students had been educated here," — Phelps. 

The slope of Academy and Capitol parks, separated by Wash- 
ington Avenue, extends down to Eagle Street, upon which, facing 
Academy Park, are two remarkable buildings— the State Hall 
and the City Hall. 

The State Hall is the large red-domed structure of Sing Sing 
marble, on the corner of Steuben Street, which has been occupied 
by various commissions and other State departments since 1842, 
but will soon be vacated by these, and become the State Museum 
of Natural History, for which it will be an admirable receptacle 
Next to it, on the corner of Maiden Lane, is the 



214 THE CAPITAL CITY. 

City Hall.— This conspicuous and beautiful building is the 
masterpiece of the artist-architect H. H. Richanison. It is built 
of reddish granite in a freely modified Gothic style, and is sur- 
mounted by a square tower 202 feet high. This building was 
erected in 1883 at a total cost of about $325,000. The handsome . 
granite edifice on Maiden Lane, behind it, is Masonic Hall. I 

A few doors down State Street, on the south side, near Lodge 
Street, is the large plain brick building called Geological Hall, 
dark and unsuitable, in which is now housed the 

State Museum of Natural History. — It is well worth a 
visit, and should be regarded with more interest and pride than 
has hitherto been accorded to it by the people of the State gener- 
ally. The Entrance Hall is devoted to an exhibit of building- 
stones dressed in various ways so as to display their good quali- 
ties. At the right is the large and handsome cabinet of minerals. 
The other rooms upon this (the ground) floor are devoted mainly 
to offices, store-rooms, and the quarters of the State Agricultural 
Society. The second floor is devoted to geology and paleontology 
primarily of this State; and the range of rocks found in New 
York is so extensive that the formations here represented consti- 
tute the most complete series of paleozoic rocks known in the 
world. This series will be found in a continuous line of table- 
cases around the room, which, examined from left to right, show 
the regular superposition of geological formations. The stu- 
dent is assisted by a long colored "section" of the geology 
of the State, up to the base of the coal measures. A full illus- 
trative series of the ores of the State, especially of iron, is also 
found here. 

The third floor is given up to collections of rock specimens and 
fossils exhibiting the geological formations of New York since 
the carboniferous period, and including the very complete and 
remarkable skeleton of the mastodon discovered many years ago 
at Cohoes. 

The zoological and ethnological collections on the fourth floor, 
however, are those of most popular interest. The former are 
especially strong in ornithology and conchology, but contain 
many American mammals, some of them rare, as the white goat 
of the northern Rocky Mountains. The birds are largely of the 
De Rham collection; while the shells are of the private collections 
of two famous conchologists, Gould and P. P. Carpenter. 



THE CAPITAL CIT¥. 215 

"All the collections are arranged for study and comparison, 
and the museum is strictly an educational institution, which is 
made available by thousands of students and by the public, 
and its inilaence is gradually pervading the entire community. 
Being a State institution the museum should be considered as 
cosmopolitan Its intentions are to cover the whole field of natu- 
ral research, and to be u center for the dissemination of a tech- 
nical and popular knowledge of the products, fauna, and flora of 
the entire State. With this view it should be an object of inter- 
est for the remote portions of the State as well as the immediate 
locality." 

The beautiful Norman-Gothic tower of St. Peter's Episco- 
pal Church, Opposite Geological Hall, will attract admiring atten- 
tion. This building is the third which has stood upon this site; 
but the original house of worship was the "English church" 
mentioned by Mrs. Grant in the citation heretofore quoted, and 
stood in the middle of State Street opposite its present position. 
It is built of Schenectady bluestone with New Jersey brown- 
stone trimmings, and will seat about 1,000 persons. The tower, 
one of the richest specimens of French Gothic in this country, 
contains a chime of eleven bells, and another bell marked 1751, 
which is used only to ring in the new year. "A communion 
service, the giit of Queen Anne to a projected chapel among the 
Onondagas which was never built, was given to this church at 
the frontier post in 1716, and has been in use ever since. It con- 
sists of seven pieces of solid silver, each of them bearing the 
royal arms and a curious inscription. The vault in the vestry- 
room of the church also contains the parchment conveying the 
original grant of land by George I. and the charter of the parish 
given by George III. The memorial windows of the church, of 
which there are a great number, are very fine specimens of English 
decorated glass." 

State Street is devoted to business houses for the most part — 
banks, newspapers, and office buildings. It is crossed in the 
middle by Pearl Street, running north and south, and containing 
the best stores and the most prominent office buildings, of which 
the new headquarters of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, 
and Jermain Hall, and the Kenmore Hotel are the most conspicu- 
ous and handsome. At the foot of State Street stands the 

Federal Building, in "free Renaissance" style, which has 



216 THE CAPITAL CITY. 

cost about $600,000, exclusive of the ground, and is occupied by 
the Post O'ffice, United States Courts, and Custom House. 

The best residence part of Albany is upon the high ground 
near and west of the capitol, and especially along Washington 
Avenue — a broad, beautifully shaded thoroughfare, lined with 
stately homes. Half-a-mile above the capitol is Wasliington Park, 
a beautiful pleasure-ground of over eighty acres, containing 
miles of walks and driveways, and a lake 1,600 feet long. 

" The park is reached by the State Street line of trolley-cars, 
which go within a short distance of it (at Knox Street); but more 
directly by the Hamilton Street line, which runs along Madison 
Avenue directly on the border. In the season for flowers no one 
should miss seeing the beautiful display of 40,000 bedded plants, 
most of which are placed near Willett Street, between Hudson 
and Lancaster. A band plays in the cupola of the lake-house 
nearly every week in the summer, and is listened to by thousands 
who walk or drive about the beautiful grounds. In the skating 
season the lake is of course the great place of resort; but at all 
seasons of the year, when the weather will permit, the park is 
frequented by hundreds daily. 

"The special features of the park, aside from the artistic 
manner in which it is laid out and the careful manner in which it 
is tended, are its noble trees, which were there when the land 
was taken for park purposes; and the scenery afforded by the 
distant Catskill Mountains and the Helderbergs. " 

One who wishes to see the quaint older part of the city, which 
will remind him much more of a southern than a northern town, 
should go southward along the narrow street (Lodge) beside 
Geological Hall, cross the market (whence an extremely pictur- 
esque presentation of the towering capitol is obtained), and then 
wander beyond until he is tired of the hilly narrow streets. Half- 
a-mile or so south of the capitol he will come upon the old 
Schuyler Mansion, now a Roman Catholic asylum, which was 
the home in revolutionary days of the aristocratic, but patriotic 
and kindly, Schuylers. It is a historic and interesting old house, 
but it does not give the impression of the elegance and wealth 
that belonged to the rich colonial families as does the old home 
of Patroon Van Rensselaer, out at the head of North Broadway, 
though that grand mansion is now in the midst of lumber-yards, 
and its once fine grounds are desolate, fenceless heaps of rubbish. 
Electric cars run to Greenbush, Kenwood, Watervliet, and Troy. 



THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 

The Upper Hudson is a very different river from that which 
has been followed so closely between Albany and New York Bay. 
The Boreas, North, Rocky, and Cedar rivers gather from the 
innermost glens of the Adirondacks to form its rollicking youth, 
and escape from the mountains down a course that is only a long 
tumbling through rocky rifts. The wilderness beauty of this 
uppermost torrent is profaned by many dams, and it is only 
below Eldridge's that even the hardiest canoeists dare put in their 
boats; and few of these are willing to follow the bold example set 
by Mr. Charles Farnham, the pioneer canoeist of that region, the 
story of whose running these rapids is briskly told in Vol. XXI of 
Scrihneys Monthly, p. 857. Read this account if you want to 
know how it seems to run Spruce Mountain Rift and the Horse 
Race — the two worst rapids of the mountain-gorge. Down to the 
Glen the river is so furious that in a freshet only the most reck- 
less lumbermen venture on its rapids. The ten miles from the 
Glen to Thurman is not much better. Says Mr. Farnham: 

"The Hudson about Thurman changes from a wild moun- 
tain torrent to a stream of charming pastoral character. 
The valley here and there expands a little, and gives room for 
bits of cultivation among varied hills and dales. The gloom of 
the forest is broken by a few fields and a farm-house, that are 
very welcome to the eye. The hills often shut the course of the 
river from view with bold points and narrow passes, quite like a 
miniature of the grander Highlands. The islands in the broad 
stream are picturesque with arching elms. The shores are varied 
with mossy rocks under golden beeches; with fields where brown 
shocks of buckwheat peep over the bank; or with green pastures 
and orchards near a home. The placid river was a long gallery 
of autumnal pictures. I floated a day through its gorgeous halls 
of crimson, gold, and green, flooded with sunlight; I drifted as 
idly and as quietly as the fleets of leaves that came and went 
with the zephyr. After the rush and nervous combat on the 
rapids, these tranquil beauties and these dreamy hours were 
inexpressibly delightful. 

' ' The roar of Hadley's Falls broke the spell, and announced one 
of the most interesting episodes in the cruise. . . . The gorge 

(217) 



218 THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 

of the river here " [below the falls] "is very narrow, crooked, and 
walled in with precipitous rocks. The current is swift, tortuous, ' 
and turbulent. Just below the foot of the fall is a steep plunge, 
or shoot, where the water almost falls over some rocks, and rolls 
up crested waves of quite formidable appearance. A few yards 
below this is a second plunge, rather rougher than the first. 
Elsewhere the current is deep, and safe enough if it does not 
dash you against the cavernous walls of rock. The best channel 
is in the center of each shoot. . . . The passage was short, 
but swift and exciting; and its successful termination was not 
the worst of it. 

" Tlie Hudson returns at Jessup's Landing to the ways of its 
youth by plunging down a great fall and then running seven 
miles as a wild rapid between high mountains. I unwisely 
followed the counsel of the most prudent villagers instead of the 
most enterprising, and had my canoe carted four miles down the 
river to New Bridge. This mistake lost me over three miles of 
strong, swift water, deeper and safer than the rifts about River- 
side and the Glen. But I made up the loss by camping here 
several days and hunting gray squirrels. The mountains about 
are delightful hunting-grounds. Every peak commands an 
extensive view — of the deep gorge where the river foams and 
roars, of the wide valley of the Hudson rolling through the plain 
from Glen's Falls to Troy, and of the Green Mountains along the 
eastern horizon. Every evening the neighbors collected about 
my camp-fire for stories. They brought me combs of wild honey 
and sweet apples to roast. These bright fall days in the woods, 
and the jovial hours of the evening, were some of the pleasantest 
of the trip. But finally I launched on the last rapids, and soon 
left the mountains and the rifts for the plain and the still waters 
of every-day life. 

" The quiet Hudson below Glen's Falls offered no exciting 
passages, but this part of my trip was quite as delightful as any 
other, for the peaceful scenery, the rest on smooth waters, and 
the presence of civilization were all exceedingly welcome after 
the rough wilderness. At Northumberland I left the Hudson 
and followed the canal on its west bank, to avoid some dams in 
the river; and at the same time to follow a more elevated route 
for better views. The canal offered also a new phase of life, and 
many pleasant civilities. Toward sundown I paddled up to a 
canalboat loaded with lumber, and rested from a long day's pull 
by towing alongside. The captain chatted to me while he 
manned the long tiller, his wife came up from the cabin to look 
at the canoe, and their two children leaned over the rail as near 
as possible to the Allegro, and almost devoured her with 
curiosity. . . . The boat and its people seemed so attractive 
that I chartered them all to take the Allegro on board for the 
the night. She was soon placed in a hollow between the piles of 
lumber, covered with the tent, and opened to receive calls from 



THE rPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 219 

all hands. Then the family took me still more into their circle. 
As we went into their cabin, and I inspected their diminutive but 
neat quaiters, I thought it compared favorably with the cabin of 
the Allegro; for the beds, stove, stores, and furniture were all 
within reach of a central seat. After a chat I bade them 
good-night, and went on deck to turn in. The silence of a 
misty night was scarcely broken by the tread of the horses on the 
tow-path. Now and then the man at the helm called out to the 
driver in a slow, sleepy voice. The boat, as well as everything 
else, seemed in perfect rest; but wlien the headlight glared on a 
bridge or a tree it seemed as if Nature were on a silent march to 
the rear. I soon fell asleep, after a long day of labor at the 
paddle; but the night seemed almost a dream, for I knew that 
we traveled, yet ielt not the slightest motion; that some one 
watched over our progress, although he rarely spoke; and more 
than all I enjoyed again the delightful feeling of home. 

"I turned out just before sunrise to enjoy every minute of 
the last day of my cruise; . . . and thus w^e floated slowly 
and idly through a charming country, while watching the 
various operations of locking and weighing the boat, and other 
peculiar scenes of canal life. As we advanced, the country 
became still fuller of human interests. The sound of flails floated 
over the banks, the hum of villages grew louder and more 
frequent. Then the smoky breath of Troy rang with shrill 
whistles and the heavy toils of commerce!" 



Albany is the central point of departure for this upper valley 
of the Hudson. Nearer to it are other attractive places of sum- 
mer travel and residence. Eastward are the Berkshire Hills and 
Lebanon Springs, reached by the Boston & Albany Railroad. 
Southward, along the line of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, 
is Howe's Cave — a vast cavern almost as great as the Mammoth 
Cave — opening near the station, where a hotel-village has grown 
up as the foremost of the summer resorts along the base of tlie 
Hclderberg Mountains. This is forty miles from Albany. Farther 
is the branch line to Sliaron Springs and Cherry Valley, while 
still farther south the western Catskills and Cooperstown are 
reached by this line, which passes through a beautiful and storied 
farming country all the way to Binghampton and the Wyoming 
Valley of Pennsylvania. 

"West of Albany goes the great four- track system of the New 
York Central Railroad, up the valley of the Mohawk, following 
the great prehistoric Indian highway to the west. The Central 
Railroad also runs a line to Troy, with trains every half-hour all 



220 THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 

day; this passes along the eastern bank of the river through East 
Albany, Greenbush, and the iron-works district of Troy. 

Troy is the head of steamboat navigation upon the river, and 
one of the foremost manufacturing cities in the country, especially 
in shirts, collars, and cuffs, in laundrying and laundry machinery, 
and in iron-work, locomotives, and railway-cars. Its population 
is very largely engaged in these and a multitude of smaller 
factories; and the greater part of the city is composed of shops 
and small houses, with only a few streets, and no public buildings 
likely to interest the visitor. Troy, nevertheless, has some famous 
schools, of which that most widely known, perhaps, is the Poly- 
technic Institute. In its Union Depot center the New York 
Central, Delaware & Hudson, Fitchburgh, and Central Vermont 
railroads, giving it connection with its markets in all directions. 

The most interesting tours north of Albany, however, are 
those over the admirable lines of the Delaware & Hudson Canal 
Co.'s railroads, which run to Saratoga, Lake George, Rutland, 
Vt., and along Lake Cham plain to various entrances to the Adi- 
rondacks, and to Montreal. 

Leaving Albany, the traveler passes through the great lumber 
district of that city— which is the largest lumber market in the east- 
ern United States — out into charming suburbs and past the liural 
Cemetery, where many people of note have been buried amid the 
most charming surroundings; and so on past the United States 
arsenal and gun-foundry at Watervliet, and West Troy, to the 
the manufacturing city of Cohoes. Here the Mohawk River is 
crossed on a magnificent double-truss iron bridge 960 feet long, 
from which a good view of the falls may be had. The river at 
this point joins the Hudson through a series of branch streams, or 
"sprouts," forming many islands of much beauty. Waterford 
and Mechanicville are large manufacturing towns passed in suc- 
cession, the latter the home and resling-place of Ellsworth — the 
first victim of the Civil War — and the junction-point of branch 
lines to Schenectady and Tro3^ 

The main line now leaves the Hudson and strikes northwest- 
ward through the camp-meeting grounds of Round Lake and the 
pretty village of BaUston Sjm to Saratoga, the queen of American 
summer resorts. The railroad luns through the heart of the vil- 
lage, and from the car-windows one can get a good view of the 
principal hotels and the main street. 



THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 221 

Saratoga Springs is the most prominent inland summer resort 
in the United States, and in some respects is as remarkable as any 
in the world, resembling the famous Bath Wells of England in 
the last century with all the brilliant additions of modern luxury 
and convenience. The permanent population of the town is 
about 12,000, but at the height of the summer season this popu- 
lation is often doubled in number, and the whole of it seems to be 
given over to gayety. 

The principal reason for the growth and prosperity of this 
resort is found in the presence of the mineral springs which have 
made it famous for more than a century. Some of them yield 
chalybeate waters, others contain iodine or sulphur, and all are 
strongly impregnated with carbonic acid gas. Their temperature 
is usually from 46'' to 50^ F., and most of them furnish water 
pleasant to drink, though this can hardly be said of those most in 
repute medicinally; possibly the nauseous taste has done some- 
thing toward the faith in their efficacy. The waters principally 
used are both tonic and cathartic in their action upon the human 
system, and are considered especially beneficial to the stomach and 
liver, and in cases of rheumatism, calculus, and similar disorders. 
About thirty of these springs exist, all told, of which the prin- 
cipal ones are : 

Congress Spring, Columbian Spring, Hamilton Spring, Put- 
nam Spring, Washington Spring, Geyser Spring, Saratoga Vichy 
Spring, Saratoga Kissingen, Champion Spouting Spring, Carlsbad 
Spring, Lafayette Spring, High Rock Spring, Star Spring, Seltzer 
Spring, Magnetic Spring, Flat Rock Spring, Pavilliou Spring, 
Royal Spring, Empire Spring, Red Spring, Excelsior Spring, 
Union Spring, White Sulphur Springs, Eureka Spring. 

Saratoga Springs was one of the earliest settlements in that 
part of the state, its beneficent fountains, its agreeable climate, 
and lovely situation, its agricultural surroundings, and convenient 
position on the high way to the north, uniting to give it stability 
and making it the summer resort of fashionable folk. In ante- 
bellum days this was the favorite resort of rich Southerners, and 
to this fact it owes some of its peculiar customs and attractions. 
These people and their wealthy successors, who flock thither from 
all parts of the country, are the support of the great hotels, whose 
vastness and splendor are still something to wonder at, and make 
the spectacle of the gay town in midsummer, but scores of smaller 



222 THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 

hotels and boarding houses hold a quieter life and the beautiful 
shady streets are lined with thousands of delightful homes. 

The height of the season is in July and August, when the 
greatest crowd is present, conventions are meeting daily, and the 
races offer a supreme attraction. The admirable service of the 
excellent Delaware & Hudson Railroad is taxed to its utmost, and 
several special trains are run daily. The Saratoga Races are 
among the leading American events of their kind, and attract the 
best horses in the land. The track is on Union Avenue, and its 
equipments in every particular are of the finest description. 

The country surrounding Saratoga Springs is hilly and beauti- 
ful, and the roads are excellent, so that driving is one of the 
foremost pleasures. One of the special objects of a driving 
excursion is to Saratoga Lake, about four miles southeast of the 
village. The lake is a charming place for boating, and has many 
houses and gardens of entertainment upon its shores, and it is 
reached by an electric railway, and also by a public tally-ho 
coach, which runs once a day, starting from the United States 
Hotel and stopping at Thomas' Hotel, a favorite place for eating 
game and fish dinners, served with the celebrated "Saratoga 
chips." Woodlawn Park, a fine expanse of 1,200 acres, a short 
distance from the town, is also open to the public, although 
owned by Judge Hilton, who has his private residence there. 

Broadway, the principal street of Saratoga and one of the most 
beautiful in the United States, is shaded by fine elm trees for a 
distance of three miles, and is kept in perfect order. The chief 
hotels, the best shops, and most of the principal residences are 
situated on this street, and it is thronged with prettily dressed 
loungers in the morning and gay carriages as evening draws on, 
while in the evening it sparkles with light and is ringing with 
music and laughter. 

A long account might justly be written about the hotels of 
Saratoga, which maintain to this day their early reputation. 
Some of them are among the largest and best appointed in the 
world, and probably more distinguished names are written upon 
their registers each year than anywhere else in the country. It is 
said that 20,000 guests can be accommodated by them at once, 
and this capacity is sometimes taxed to the utmost. A directory 
of these hotels will be found in the alphabetical list on page 229. 



J 



THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 223 

From Saratoga the Adirondack Railroad reaches northward 
into the Southern Adirondacks, It leaches the Upper Hudson at 
Hadley, and then follows the valley as far as North Creek; and 
much of the way the brawling stream can be seen, though not at 
its worst. Thurman, the Glen, and other places mentioned in 
tlie canoe trip related a few paragraphs back, are stations on this 
Hue; but the rural wildness of the valley has been little disturbed 
by its presence. From the terminus at North Creek stages run 
in summer into the mountains in several directions, and especially 
to Blue Mountain Lake and the lakes beyond there — Raquette, 
the Fulton Chain, Long Lake, and numberless others. 

Saratoga is in the midst of a country deeply overlaid with 
memories of the utmost interest to Americans, and full of incidents 
IDicturesque to foreigners. Here Arnold and Schuyler and Gates 
won renown, and Burgoyne obtained a greater fame by defeat, per- 
haps, than ever he would have secured by success. But the mem- 
ories go back to far older and fiercer stories than that; and this 
is especially true a little farther north, in the region of Lake 
George and the southern end of Lake Champlain, where French 
and English and Iroquois, noble and simple, troop past in a long 
procession of soldiers and priests and explorers as we summon 
the characters of local history during three centuries past. At 
Fort Edward, which was a camp-ground in 1690, and in 1759 was 
the site of a strong fort, where was gathered Amherst's great 
expedition, which resulted in the conquest of Canada, one 
changes cars for Caldwell, at the foot of Lake George; and in 
summer one may make the circuit of that lake and return 
the next day, or at the upper end may pursue his journey 
northward by rail or boat, as pleases him. 

Fort Ann is a historic village beyond Fort Edward; and next 
comes Whitehall, where a branch line will carry the traveler to 
Butland, Vt., and so into the Green Mountains or on to the White 
Hills. Then comes Fort Ticonderoga, whose grim ruins crown 
the headland where Dieskau, and Montcalm, and Abercrombie, 
and Amherst, and Ethan Allan, and Burgoyne commanded in turn 
armies and an armament that were long ago turned to dust. 
What memories of ambition and political intrigue and war these 
names Ticonderoga and Crown Point and Champlain arouse! And 
how thrilling is it to wander about these crumbling walls and 
retrace the old redoubts Avhere such men struggled! 



224 THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 



ie I 



The shining expanse of beautiful Champlain is plowed by the 
keels of swift steamers, and at all these ports the excursionists 
may embark for the northerly landings — Burlington, Plattsburgh, 
etc. — or he may continue in the railway-cars, along the cliff- 
bordered western verge of the lake, and enjoy some of the most 
striking scenery in the country. 

From Crown Point a railway extends westward to Paradox 
Lake, whence stages run to Schroon Lake, and on across to Taha- 
was and the headwaters of the Hudson. Westpoi't gives another 
popular entrance (by stage) to the Adirondacks. 

"Tally-ho stages meet trains at Westport to convey passengers 
to Elizabethtown, an enjoj^able ride of eight miles through Raven 
Pass, whence stage lines run daily to Keene Valley. It is proba- 
ble that unless the traveler's time is limited he will yield to the 
temptation to tarry a few days at Elizabethtown before exploring 
the wonders beyond, and he will be wise to do so. Here are the 
most comfortable of hotels, filled in summer with hundreds of 
guests representing the best elements of American social life. 
Good drives radiate in all directions. Easy trails lead to the 
summits of Mount Hurricane and the Giant of the Valley. The 
village itself is one of unusual beauty and salubrity. The lovely 
Pleasant Valley in which it lies is comparable only with the 
famed Keene Valley, a few miles beyond. The streams and 
lakes in the vicinity will furnish good sport to the angler, and 
the forests unfailing attractions to the sj^ortsman. The drive 
over Symonds Hill and back, via the Pleasant Valley road along 
the windings of the Bouquet River, and to Split Rock Falls, 
where the river descends a hundred feet through a wild chasm in 
a series of picturesque cataracts, should be taken. Wood Hill, 
but a few minutes' easy walk from the hotels, should be visited for 
the prospect of mountains and the view up Pleasant Valley to be 
had from its summit. Cobble Hill, a short distance southwest of 
the village, presents a formidable climb; but those who are will- 
ing to perform the little hard work necessary to reach its top will 
be amply repaid by the outlook. The view from the sharp peak 
of Hurricane Mountain, which is easily ascended from the 
Elizabethtown side, is one of the best high view^s to be had in 
the Adirondack Mountains; second only, perhaps, to that from 
White Face. Nowhere else can the full glory of an American 
autumn be seen in greater brilliancy than on the hillsides and in 
the valley around Elizabethtown. The road to Lake Placid 
follows a westerly course, running alongside the bed of a rush- 
ing mountain stream, and passing many lovely cascades and pools. 
Ascending gradually the narrowing valley, we arrive in about 
an hour at the top of Pitch-off Pass, under a noble cliff, and are 
at an altitude of 1,710 feet. To the right, but a short distance 




PROSPECT MOUNTAIN, SHOWING OTIS INCLINE RAILWAY. 



i 



Otis Incline Railway 
and The Lake House 

PROSPECT MOUNTAIN, 

LAKE GEORGE, N. Y. 

Like a sentinel guarding the pass, Prospect Mountain stands at the 
head of beautiful Lake George. For centuries it has stood, with its 
craggy top piercing the clouds, rugged, precipitous, unknown. 

To-day, all is changed, and by modern invention rendered accessible, 
by wealth and experience beautified. Prospect Mountain looks down on 
scenes of loveliness that are hardly equaled on the face of the fair earth. 
Peerless among mountains, it stands unequaled in its rare combination 
of varying scenes. It is not circumscribed as the section of a valley, nor 
of a height that renders the landscape below a mere map, but a mountain 
peak among other mountains, which, from its coign of vantage, com- 
mands a scene of greater variety than any other outlook on the American 
continent. 

A little village nestles restfully at its foot; a white beach circles 
away to the farther side, past the ruins of the famous Forts William, 
Henry, and George. Toward the north stretches the lake, until lost 
among the distant mountains, its surface dotted with islands, its winding 
shores revealing many a brightly gleaming cottage along the way. 

Away to the south lies the river of Hendrick Hudson, and on a clear 
day Albany's capitol dome is plainly visible. Westward and northerly, 
every peak of the Adirondacks looms up, from the sacred "Tahawus" of 
the redmen, to the snow-capped Mt. Marcy. 

Here the pine and balsam laden air from the great west bring heal- 
ing and rest to the victims of that patrician infliction, "hay fever." Here 
the air is never sultry or oppressive, even when from the heights one 
may look down where the plains below are shimmering in waves of heat. 
These facts have long been recognized, and eminent physicians have 
ordered patients here for years. 

Prospect Mountain House stands on the summit to bid the visitor 
welcome. It is fitted with all the modern conveniences deemed essential 
to patrons of the world's best hotels, and for the accommodation of the 
general public, a first-class restaurant, conducted on the European plan, 
open to the air on every side, or glass-enclosed, as the conditions of the 
weather may make desirable. 

Billiards, bowling, and a rifle range are provided for those who may 
desire amusement of such a nature. 

And now, finally, how has this mountain become at last accessible ? 

Six months of construction— of untiring labor — have placed, since the 
last guest of '94 left Lake George, an inclined railway upon this rugged 
acclivity — a railway longer in point of altitude, and higher than any 
other in the United States. The Catskill, Tennessee's Old Lookout, 
Pasadena, and others, all bow their heads. 

This road is provided with all the latest mechanical and safety 
devices, and is built by the Otis Engineering & Construction Company. 
It extends from the lake shore to the summit of the mountain, twenty-six 
hundred feet above the sea and two thousand feet above the lake, and 
cars are run every thirty minutes. 

The Lake House is owned by the same company, and is situated five 
minutes' walk from the railway station at the foot of the mountain. 

There is a musicale at the house on the top of the mountain every 
morning and afternoon by a Hungarian Orchestra. 



THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 235 

away, the bare and shining peak of Hurricane is seen. At our 
feet, a thousand feet below, Keene Valley lies spread out before 
us in almost its entire extent, a vision of loveliness with its soft 
green meadows and graceful elms; beyond it, range upon range 
of grand mountain forms; and still farther, the pyramidal peak 
of White Face, rising high above all, presents itself for the first 
time to the observer — an exalted type of mountain sublimity 
which is quickly lost to the eye as we descend into the valley. 
Looking to the south, a new surprise opens before us in the first 
view of the Gothics, whose graceful outlines present a strange- 
ness of effect not to be found elsewhere, so far as the writer 
knows, throughout the entire domain of mountain scenery. A 
few minutes later the dark cone of Mount Marcy is seen a few 
miles southwest; but the glimpse of the monarch is as fleeting 
as that of White Face. We have now descended to the valley, 
and if the tourist has a day or two to spare he will do well to 
stop here before pursuing his journey, for he is in one of the 
loveliest vales that the sun shines upon. For six miles up the 
valley lovers of nature have dotted it with summer homes, and 
good hotels and boarding-houses are located in the most pict- 
uresque situations. The Au Sable Ponds are most conveniently 
visited from Beede's, at the head of Keene Valley. 

"The large hotels of Lake Placid are now in sight. We 
descend a short hill, cross a branch of the Au Sable, and when 
within half-a-mile of Lake Placid experience a momentary feeling 
of disappointment because our surroundings have suddenly grown 
uninteresting. A few rods beyond, however, a turn in the woods 
reveals that we have before us and around us one of the most 
entrancing scenes in all nature; a picture so glorious that the 
imagination can scarcely compass it, or conceive of a single 
element wanting to make it perfect." 

From Port Kent, farther on, one can easily visit the Au Sable 
Chasm by rail; or pass on to the great Hotel Champlain, at Bluff 
Point, near Plattsburgh. 

This new and elegant hotel stands in the midst of spacious, 
cultivated grounds, upon a bold promontory overlooking the 
water, and commanding a very wide view of the lake and the 
green, and Adirondack Mountains. No less than 363 acres in 
the hotel grounds, mostly wooded, have been laid out in walks 
and drives. The hotel is 400 feet long, having an average width 
of about fifty feet and a central width of ninety feet. This 
immense and costly structure is surmounted by three towers — one 
at each end, and a central tow^er 125 feet high. It is intended that 
the "Champlain" shall be the model summer hotel of its kind. 
"The house and its furnishings are of the highest class, and 
every convenience that can conduce to the pleasure and comfort 
18 



226 THE UPPER HUDSON COUNTRY. 

of its guests has been provided. Such has been the rapid growth 
in popularity of Lake Cliamplain that the opening of this fine 
home for summer pleasure seekers signalizes an era of interest in 
this incomparable region that has placed its shores in the first 
rank of summer resorts." 

A short distance beyond, 168 miles from Albany, is the old and 
interesting town of Plattsburgh, much resorted to in summer, and 
the terminus of the Chateaugay Railroad, which runs up the Sara- 
nac Valley to Saranac Lake. Twenty-four miles farther brings 
the traveler to Rouse's Point, on the Canadian boundary-line, and 
only fifty miles from Montreal — a fit ending to the "Tour of the 
Hudson." 






ALPHABETICAL LIST OF HOTELS IN THE HUD- 
SON VALLEY AND CATSKILLS. 

Those hotels bearing the star (*) are open only in summer. 

Albany, Albany Co. Pop. 100,000. Hotels: The Kenmore, $4:; 
Stanwix Hall, $3 to $4; Delavan, |2.50 to $4; Globe, $2; Hotel 
Vendome, $2; Keelefs (Eur.). 

Andes, Delaware Co. Pop. 589. Hotel: Grispell House, %2. 

Arkville, Delaware Co. Pop. 113. Commercial House, $1.50; 
Cole House, $1.50; Hoffman House,* special rates. 

Athens, Greene Co. Pop. 2,500. Hotel: Law's, %2. 

Big Indian, Ulster Co. Joslyii House,* $2; Big Indian, $2; 
Mountain House,* $1.50; Slide Mountain House,* $1.50; Panther 
Mountain House,* $1.50; House of Seven Oahles, $1.50. 

Bloomville, Delaware Co. Pop, 236. Hotel: Bloomville, 
$1.50. 

Cairo, Greene Co. Pop. 859. Hotels: Columbian,* $3; 
Winter Clove,* $2; Evergreen Orove,* $2; Walter's, $2; Fairview, 
$2; Morley House, $2; Beckwith House, $1.50; Chichester House, 
$1.50; Glen Falls House, $1.50; Majjle Laicn, $1,50; Maple Grove 
House, $1.50; Malaeska House, $1.50; Hine House, %2',Jenning's, $2. 

Castleton, Rensselaer Co. Pop. 1,300. Hotels: Bensselaer- 
wyck, $2; Signer House, $2, 

Catskill, Greene Co. Pop, 5,000, Hotels: Irving House, $2 
to $3; The Windsor, $2; Embogcht, $2; Hart House (Landing), 
$2; Union (Landing), $2 to $3; Mountain House,* $4 to $5; Pros- 
pect Park Hotel,* $3 to $4; Grant House,* $3; Glenwood,* $2.50; 
Airy Grove,* $2; Summit Hill House,* $2; Smith's, $1.50; 
Gay's, $2. 

Coeyman's, Albany Co. Pop. 963. Hotel: Pulver House, $2. 

Cold Spring, Putnam Co. Pop. 2,500. Hotel: Pacific, $2. 

(327) 



228 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF HOTELS. jS 

Cornwall, Orange Co, Pop. 2,356. Hotels: O rand Central, 
$2 to $2.50; Cornwall, $2; Elm Park, $2; Mountain House,* %^\ 
Elmer House,* $2.50 to $3; Olen Ridge,* $3; Qrand Vieic,* $2.50; 
Linden Park,* $2; The Cornell,* $2; Smith House* $2.50; Bay 
View House,* $2; Taylor House,* $2; Ward House,* $2; Storm 
King House,* $1.50; Palmer House,* $1.50. 

Coxsackie, Greene Co. Pop. 2,200. Hotels: Gummings, $2; 

Jacksonville, $1.50; Larrabee House, $1.50. 

Davenport, Delaware Co. Pop. 533. Hotels: Clarendon 

House, $2; Olobe, $2. 

Dobbs' Ferry, Westchester Co. Pop. 2,083. Hotels: Qlen 
Toicer,* $3; Hotel Bellevue; * Greenhurg House, * $2; Emmet 
House, $2; Union Hotel, $1.50. 

East Windham, Greene Co. Pop. 110. Hotels: Butts House,* 
$2; Summit House,* $2; Briggs' Mountain House,* $2. 

Esopus, Ulster Co. Pop. 340. Hotels: llie Gladeholdt, $3; 
Locust Grove House* 

Fishkill-on-Hudson, Dutchess Co. Pop. 3,617. Hotels: Hol- 
land House, $2; Flannery's, $2; Revere House. 

Fleischmann's, see Griffin's Corners. 

Garrison's, Putnam Co. Pop. 160. Hotels: Highland House,* 
special rates; Garrison's, $3. 

Germantown, Columbia Co. Pop. 460. Hotel: Central, $2. 

Gilboa, Schoharie Co. Pop. 489. Hotel: Gilhoa House, $2. 
Grand Gorge, Delaware Co. Pop. 231. Hotels: Schaffer 
House, $1.50; Grand Hotel, see Summit Mountain. 

Grand Hotel, see Summit Mountain. 

Griffin's Corners, Ulster Co. Pop. 365. Hotels: Crosby 
Home* $2: Switzerland,* $2; Hatfield Mansion,* $1.50; Outlook,* 
$1.50; Breezy Hill,* $1.50; Vermillyea Cottage* 

Haines' Falls, Greene Co. Hotels: Glen Cottage,* $2; Holhert 
House,* $2; Hilton House,* $2; Haines' Falls House,* $2; Shady ^ 
Grove House,* $2; Sunset View House,* $2; Haines House,* $2; 
Vista,* $1.50; Vendome,* $2; The Antlers;* Rousseau,* $2.50; 
Laurd House, see Kaaterskill. 



ALPHABETICAL LIST OP HOTELS. 229 

Hastings, Westchester Co. Pop. 1,466. Hotel: Irdeima- 

tioncd, $2. 

Haverstraw, Rockland Co. Pop. 5,170- Hotels: Commercial 

House, $2; United States, $2; Eagle, $2. 

Hensonville, Greene Co. Pop. 288. Hotels: Orchard Orove 
House,^ $2; Bloodgood Rouse,* $1.50; Central House, $1.50. 

Highland (village), Ulster Co. Pop. 1,570. Hotels: Bellevue 
Villa,* ^2; Highland House,* ^2; Dean's, $1.50. 

Highland Falls, Orange Co. Pop. 2,237. Hotels: Cranston,* 
(see West Point); Highland Villa,* $2.50; Highland Falls,* $2; 
Brookside Cottage,* $1.50; Howard's. 

Highmount, see Summit Mountain. 

Hobart, Delaware Co. Pop. 850. Hotels: Commercial, $1.50; 
Hohart, $1.50. 

Hudson, Columbia Co. Pop. 10,027. Hotels: Worth House, 
$2.50; Waldron House, $2; Hotel Lincoln, $2; Central, $2; City, ^2. 

Hunter, Greene Co. Pop. 500. Hotels: Hotel St. Charles, * 
$2.50 to $4; Arlington, $2; Hunter, $2.50; West End, $2; 
Central, $2; Hunter Mountain Prospect House, * $2; The Kaats- 
herg, * $2; Villa du Bois, * $2. 

Hyde Park, Dutchess Co. Pop. 738. Hotel-. Horning House, %2, 

Jefferson, Schoharie Co. Pop. 484. Hotel: Jefferson, $1.50. 

Jewett's, Greene Co. Hotels: JeimtVs Heights House,* $2- 
Toicer Mountain House,* special rates. 

Kaaterskill, Greene Co, Hotels: Hotel Kaaterskill,* special 
rates; Laurel House,* special rates. 

Kaaterskill Hotel, see Kaaterskill. 

Kingston, Ulster Co. Pop. 21,261. Hotels (in KingstOD 
proper): Eagle, $2 to $2.50; Clinton, $2; Hotel Brunsicick, $2; 
Mountain Vieic* $2. In old Rondout: Mansion House, $2 to 
$2.50; Kingston, $2. 

Laurel House, see Kaaterskill. 

Lexington, Greene Co. Pop. 448. Hotels: Monroe House,* 
$2.50; O'Hara House* $2.25; Lexington House,* %2; Martin's,* %2. 



230 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF HOTELS. 

Longyear (Cockburn House), see Mount Pleasant. 

Margaretville, Delaware Co. Pop. 700. Hotels: Ackerly* 
$2; Dimmick House* $1.50; Maple Orom, $1.50; Riverside, $1.50- 

Marlborough, Ulster Co. Pop. 870. Hotels : Exchange, $2; 
Pleasant View House, $2; Atkins, $1.50. 

Matteawan, Dutcbess Co. Pop. 4,278. Hotels: Commercial, 
$2; Dibble House, |2; Arlington House, $1.50. 

Milton, Ulster Co. Pop. 581. Hotel: MiUon House, %\.m. 

Montgomery, Orange Co. Pop. 1,024. Hotels: National, 

$2; Palace, $2; Empire House, $1.50. 

Mount Pleasant, Ulster Co. Hotels: Cockburn House,* $2.50; 
The Maples,* $1.50; Winne House,* $2. 

New Baltimore, Greene Co. Pop. 810. Hotels: New Balti- 
more House,* $1.50; Riverside House,* $2. 

Newburgh, Orange Co. Pop. 23,087. Hotels: Palatine, $3 
to $4; United States, $2.50 to $3; Merchants', $2; Lakeview 
House,'' $1.50. 

New Hamburgh, Dutcbess Co. Pop. 573. Hotels: Central, 
$2; Perrine, $2. 

Nyack, Rockland Co. Pop. 4,111. Hotels: Prospect House,* 
$4; Tapjxin Zee House,* $4; St. Osorge, $2 to $3; The Av illon;* 
Highland Hotel, $2.50. 

Overlook Mountain House, see Woodstock. 

Palenville, Greene Co. Pop. 362. Hotels: Palenville,* special 
rates; Stony Brook House, * $2 to $3; Pine Grove, * $2; Maple 
Grove,* $2; Sunmj Slope,* $2; Winchels-a,* $2; Echo House,* $2; 
Drummond Falls,* %\. 50 \q%2; Airy Hill House,* special rates; 
Central House, $1.50; Clierry Grove, special. 

Panther Mountain, see Big Indian. 

Peekskill, Westchester Co. Pop. 9,676. Hotels: Eagle, 
$2 to $3; Requa House; Hudson Avenue Hotel, $2; Exchange, 
$1.50; Allen House, $2. 

Phoenicia, Ulster Co. Pop. 354. Hotels: Tremper House,* 
$3 to $4; Broas House,* $2; The Martin,* $2. 



I 



ALPHABETICAL LIST OF HOTELS. 231 

Pine Hill, Ulster Co. Pop. 400. Hotels: Winterton, |2.50; 
Grampian,^ $S; Rip Van Winkle * $S; Alpine,"^ ^2.50; Bonnie 
Vieio House, "^ $2; Cornish House, "^ |2; Hotel Ulster, "^ $2 ; The 
Brewerton,* $2; Trout Brook House, "^ $2. 

Piermont, Rockland Co. Pop. 1,400. Hotels: The Wiiulsor; 
Having House. 

Plaaterkill Hotel, see Platte Clove. 

Platte Clove, Greene Co. Hotel: Plaaterkill Falls Mountain 
House,* |2. Stage from Saugerties, 75 cents. 

Poughkeepsie, Dutchess Co. Pop. 22,206. Hotels: Nelson 
House, $2.50 to $3.50; Morgan House, $2.50 to $3.00; Windsor. 

Prattsville, Greene Co. Pop. 384. Hotels: Central, $2; 
Devasego, $1.50; Fowler House,* $1.50; Stanley Hall. 

Rhinebeck, Dutchess Co. Pop. 1,654. Hotels: RJiinebeck 
Hotel, $2; Rhinebeck Inn, $2. 

Rhinecliff, Dutchess Co. Pop. 600. Hotel: Rhinecliff,* $2. 

Rockland Lake, Rockland Co. Pop. 470. Hotels: Grand 
Rockland Hotel,* $2.50 to $4; Beaverkill Hotel, $1.50. 

Rondout, see Kingston. 

Roxbury, Delaware Co. Pop. 744. Hotels: Delaware Valley, 
$2; Lauren Villa,* $2; Central, $1.50. 

Saugerties, Ulster Co. Pop. 4,188. Hotels: Exchange, $2: 
Phenix, $2; Mt. Airy House,* $2; Maple Grove;* Palmer, $2. 

Shandaken, Ulster Co. Hotels: Palace,* $3; Whitney, $2. 

Shokan, Ulster Co. Hotels: Hamilton House, $2; High 
Point,* $1.50; Mchler House, $2. 

Sing Sing, Westchester Co. Pop. 9,352. Hotels: American, 
$2.50; Hotel Keenan, $2; Phenix House, $2; Crosier, $2; St. 
Cloud, $1.50; Crossier House, $2, 

Slide Mountain, see Big Indian. 

Staatsburgh, Dutchess Co. Pop. 220. Hotel: Nackle, $1.50. 



232 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF HOTELS. 

Stamford, Delaware Co. Pop. 1,000. Hotels: Churchill 
Hall,* $3 to |4; Greycourt Inn* |2.50; Simpson Ten^ace* |2; 
The Westholm; Grant House* |2; Delaware House, $2; Hamil- 
ton House, $2; Cold Spring,* $2. 

Stuyvesant Falls, Columbia Co. Pop. 930. Hotel: Stuy- 

vesant Falls House, |2; Milner, |1.75. 

Summit Mountain, Ulster Co. Hotels: New Grand Hotel, 
$4 to $4.50; The Benvenue,* $2; Belle Ayr,* $2.50; Grampian,* %^; 
Rossmore;* Summit Ridge,-'^ $2. 

Tannersville, Greene Co. Pop. 271. Hotels: Blytheicood, 
$2.50; Pleasant View,* special rates; Roggen's, $2.50; Fabian 
House,* $2.50; Campbell House,* $2.50; Cascade House, $2; 
Mansion House,* $2.50; Waverly House,* special rates; Mulford's,* 
special rates; Belvedere, $2.50; Mountain Summit House, $2 to $3; 
Rogers Mountain House, $2.50. 

Tarry town, Westchester Co. Pop. 3,562. Hotels: Franklin 
House, $2 to $3; Matt House, $2.50; Cosmopolitan, $2; Park 
House, $2; Perry House, $2. 

Troy, Kensselaer Co. Pop. 60,700. Hotels: Troy House, $3; 
Fifth Avenue, $2.50 to $3; Mansion House, $2 to $2.50; Revere 
House, $2; Frear, $2. 

Union Society, Greene Co. Hotel. Davis House, $2. 

Warnerville, Schoharie Co. Hotel: Curtis House, special. 

West Hurley, Ulster Co. Hotel: Hardenburgh, $2. 

Westkill, Greene Co. Pop. 198. Waifs, $2. 

West Point, Orange Co. Pop. 1,164. {Cranston's) West 
Point Hotel, $3MCCranstoji's (formerly Cozzens'),* $4 to $5; Fort 
Putna7n Hotel,* $2. 

Windham, Greene Co. Pop. 700. Hotels: Windham, $2 
Osborii House, $1.50; Munson House,* $2; Soper Place House,* $2 
Centre House, $2; Munger House, $1.50; Glen House,* $1.50 
Brookdale House,* $1.50. 

Woodstock, Ulster Co. Pop. 267. Hotel: Woodstock, %2. 

Yonkers, Westchester Co. Pop. 32,038. Hotels: Getty 
House, $2.50 to $3; Arlington Inn, $3; Mansion House, $2.50; 
Yonkers, $2. 



INDEX. 



A. 

PAGE. 

Abbey, Henry 154 

Abbottsford 48 

Albany 200-226 

Historical Sketch of - 200-203 

Railway Stations 200 

State Capitol - 205-213 

" Library.... 211 

" Museum of Natural History 214 

Alpine Gorge 46 

Andre's Capture and Execution 66 

" " Monument to 56 

Anthony's Nose 16,79,80, 125 

Aqueducts, Croton, New and Old 47, 48 

Arkville 172 

Arnold's Treason, Story of - 65-68 

Astor's Point 178 

Athens 196 

Audubon Park 30 

Au Sable Chasm 225 

Austin's Glen 185 

B. 

Ball Mountain 60 

Ballston Spa 220 

Balmville 119 

Barkley Heights 180 

Barr, Amelia E., Home at Cornwall 114 

Barren Island 198 

Barrytown (Lower Red Hook) 178 

Beacon Hills 106,124,126 

BearMoimt 79,82 

Beecher, Henry Ward, at Peekskill - 74 

Belle Ayr - 172 

Bergen Hill and Neck 26, 28, 33, 34 

Berkshire Hills 47,196,219 

Beverly Dock. 86 

Big Indian 168, 169 

(233) 



234 INDEX. 

TAOE. 

Bishop's Falls 159 

Black Creek 140 

Black Dome 165 

Blackhead ....16."), 198 

Black Rock 79,111 

Bloomville 157, 176 

Boiceville 158, 162 

Breakneck Mountain (The Turk's Face) 85, 111, 124 

Broadway along the Hudson 43 

Bull Hill (Mt. Taurus) 85,106,108 

Bull's Ferry 34 

Burgoyne, General 81, 85 

Burr, Aaron 27 

Burroughs, John 130,139 

c. 

Cairo 185, 186 

Caldwell 223 

Canoeing on the Upper Hudson 217 

"Castle Phillipse" 40, 56 

Castleton 199 

CatBkill 184 

Creek 184, 186, 198 

Driving and Walking Routes 185 

Mountain House 187 

Catskills, The 

First view of 138 

Gateway of 158 

Railway Fare in 164 

Routes to 156 

Washington Irving and the 155 

Catskill Station 184 

Chain Point 81 

Church, F. E., County Seat of 193 

Claremont Heights 29 

Claverack 196 

Clinton, Sir Henry 69,81 

Closter.. 46,60 

Clum Hill 165,190 

Coeyman's 199 

Cohoes ..200,220 

Cold Spring 107 

Columbiaville 197 

Constitution Island 95, 106 

Continental Village 73 

Cooper's T7ie ySpy 42 

Cooperstown 176, 219 

Cooper, Susan Fenimore 18 



ft 



INDEX. 235 

PAGE. 

CornwaU 112-115,124 

Country Seats See Maps. 

Coxsackie 197 

Cranston''s 85, 86 

Cro' Nest 85, 106,108, 124 

Ci'otonBay 64 

" Point 46,61,63 

River 48 

Station 61 

Crown Point 224 

Cruger's ..- - 64 

Island 178 

Crum Elbow 138 

D. 

Danskammer 128 

Deeper Hook 185 

Deep Notch 168,171 

Delaware and Hudson Canal 22, 143 

Denning's Point 126 

Depew, Chauncy M., and Peekskill 74 

Devasago Falls ^ 174 

Diedrich Hook 60 

Dinsmore's Point 141 

Dobb's Ferry 30,44-46 

Drake, Joseph Rodman 109 

Dunderberg, The 73,78,82 

Durham 186 

Dutchess Junction 125, 127 

Dutch Traders 16 

E. 

Eagle Valley 109 

East Albany 200,220 

East Camp 183 

Edgewater 32 

Eldorado 27,28 

Elizabethtown 224 

ElkaPark 167 

Ellison House, The 121 

Elysian Fields 26 

Englewood 34,35,60 

Erie Canal 22,203 

Esopus 140,141,152 

" Creek 141, 158, 159, 179 

Valley, Ernest IngersoU on, in Harper's. 159, 161 

Wars 148 



236 INDEX. 

Ferries: F. page. 

Catskill Station to Catskiil 185 

Fishkill to Newburgh 119, 125 

Fort Lee to New York 28, 33 

Garrison"'s to West Point 37 

Hudson to Athens 197 

Peekskill to Jones"' Point 75 

Poughkeepsie to Highland 135 

Rhinebeck to Rondout 157 

Rhinecliff to Kingston 143 

Storm King Station to Cornwall 108 

Tarrytown to Nyack 59 

Tivolito Saugerties 181 

Weehawken to New York 28 

Fishkill 125-127,151 

Mountains 126,139 

Fleischmann's - 172 

Foote, Mary Hallock 129 

Forrest's (Edwin) Font Hill 38 

Fort Ann 223 

" Clinton 80-85 

" Constitution 31,33 

" Edward 11,223 

" George 31 

" Independence 73, 81 

" Lafayette 69 

" Lee 31,33 

" Montgomery 70,80-85 

" Orange 201 

" Putnam 85 

" Ticonderoga 223 

" Tryon 31 

" Washington 31, 32 

Four-Mile Point 197 

Fulton's (Robert) First Steamboat - 179 

G. 

Garrison's 87 

Germantown 183 

Glasco 179 

Glenerie 179 

Glen's Falls 218 

Glenwood 39 

Gomez Explores the Hudson 16 

Gould, George, Summer Residence of 172 

" Jay, Country Seat of - 51 

Grand Hotel 171 

Grant's Tomb 29 



INDEX. 237 

PA«B. 

Grassy Point 68 

Great Chip Rock Reach 46 

Greenbush 200, 220 

Green Mountains 196, 223 

"Grey stone," Samuel J. Tilden's Home 43 

Guttenberg 28 

H. 

Haanakrois Creek 198 

Hadley 223 

Haines' Corners 167, 190 

Falls 167,188,189 

Half Moon, The 17,18,194 

Hamilton, Alexander 27 

Hampton Point 128 

Harlem Ship Canal 30 

Hastings 43 

Haverstraw 64 

Haverstraw Bay 64, 65 

High Bridge 48 

Highland 135, 137 

Highland Falls. 86 

Highland Forts, Fall of the 81 

Highlands, The 76,77,85 

Highland Village 137 

High Peak 142, 162,165 

High Point Mountain 158,159 

High Tor 65 

Hobart 157,176 

Hoboken 26 

Hook Moimtain, (Point-No-Point) 47, 60 

Horse Race, The 79, 217 

Hotel Champlain 225 

" Kaaterskill 164, 167, 188 

Hudson, (City of) 17,21, 194 

Hudson-Delaware Divide 157 

Hudson, Henry 16-18, 194 

Hudson River: 

After the Revolution 21, 22 

Breaking up of 14 

Broadest Part 64 

Channel 13 

Discovery of 16 

Dumping into 13 

During the Revolution 19, 21 

First Steamboats 21, 203 

John Burroughs on 11, 14, 130 

Life on „ , , 143 



238 INDEX. 

HiTDSON RivKR— Continued. page. 

Local Historians of 44, 81, 83, 94, 118, 121, 150, 152, 169, 185 

Most Beautiful Part 139 

Names 16, 18, 19, 201 

Navigability of 12 

New York Cicy Shore 25 

Professor Newberry's Theory about 12 

Sources of 11, 217, 224 

Washington Irving on 22 

"Winter Navigation of-- 13 

Hunter 164 

■• Mountain 164, 165, 189 

Huntersfield Mountain 174 

Hussey's Mountain 141, 142 

Hyde Park 138 

I. 

Ice and Ice Harvest 13, 129-132 

" Boating 135 

"Idlewild,'' Home of N.P.Willis 120 

Indian Head 46 

Inwood 30 

lona Island 79 

Irvington 49 

Irving, Washington 37,49-55,78 

J. 

Jeffrey's Hook 30,31 

Jersey City 25, 72 

Jessup's Landing 218 

Jones' Point, (Caldwell Landing). ._ 75, 77 

K. 

KaalRock 132 

Kaaterskill Clove 162,167, 190,191 

Falls 188, 189, 192 

High Peak.. 189 

Station 164 

Keen Valley 224 

Kellogg, Clara Louise, Former Home of 107 

Kidd's Plug Cliff. 109 

Point 77 

Kinderhook Creek 197 

Village 197 

King Estate and Mansion 27 

King's Bridge 30, 31, 37 

" Ferry 68, 82 

Kingland's Point 54, 58 



INDEX. 239 

KiNGfs'roN: page. 

Cement 143-145 

Historical Sketch of 147, 153 

New York's First Court and Legislature at 151 

Old Houses... 149 

Kosciusko, Thaddeus 95, 97 

L. 

Lafayette's Headquarters 27, 121 

Lake ChampIaLn 220, 2iU 

" George 220, 223 

" Katrine 179 

" Placid 225 

Lansingburgh 200 

Laurel House Station 167, 190 

Lebanon Springs 219 

Leeds. 185, 187 

Leonia 59 

Linlithgo 184 

Little Tor 65 

Livingston Family, The 182 

Manor-House at Tarrytown 45 

(" Clermont •") 153,181-183 

Lost Clove, The 169 

Low Point (Carthage Landing) 124, 128 

Ludlow 39 



M. 

Maiden 181 

Manhattanville 29 

Manhattes, The 18, 38 

Manito Mount 75, 79 

Marlborough. 128 

Matteawan 125 

McEntee, Jarvis 154 

Mechanicville 220 

Millbrook 135 

Milton 129 

Monka Hill (Summit Mountain) 171 

Montgomery Creek 80 

Hall 178 

Montreal. 220, 226 

Montrose 64, 68 

Moodna, The (Murderer's Creek) 112, 114, 115, 120 

Morse, Prof. S. F. B., Home of 132 

Morton, Levi P., Summer Home of 141 

Mountain House 141, 167, 186, 188 



240 INDEX. 



I 



PAGE. 

Mount Cornell 146, 162 

'• Garfield 163 

" Hymettus 138 

" Lincoln, (High Peak) 165 

Marcy 225 

" Merino 193 

•• Pisgah 164, 173, 198 

" Pleasant 162 

" Rascal 79 

" Sheridan 163, 168 ^ 

" St.Vmcent-. 38 

" Tyceteneyck 158, 159 

" Utsayantha 174, 175 

N. 

Ned BuntUne's " Eagle's Nest " 175 

Nepperhan, The 40, 42 

Neutral Ground, The 43 

New Baltimore 198 

Newburgh ^ 116-125 

Driving Routes 119 

Historical Sketch of 117 

Tower of Victory 123, 124 

Washington's Headquarters 121 

Newburgh Bay 112, 116 

New Hamburgh - 124, 128 

NewPaltz Landing 137 

New Windsor 69, 115, 120, 124 

New York City, Limits of 38 

North Bay 178, 179 

" Beacon 127 

" Creek 223 

" Mountain 165, 188 

" River 19, 26 

NuttenHook 197 

Nyack 59 

o. 

Olive 158 

Oneonta 176 

OnteoraPark. 165, 166 

Oscawanna Island 68 

Otis Elevator, The 167, 168, 186, 187 

Overlook Mountain 141, 1B7 

P. 

Palatinate Settlements, The 117,128, 183 

Palisades, The 35, 46 

PalenvUle 185, 190 



INDEX. 241 

PAGE. 

Panther Mountain 163 

Patroons, The 201 

Paulding, James K 140 

Peakamoose 162 

Peekskill 73-76 

Drum Hill 75 

Paulding's Tomb 74 

State Camp of the National Guard 75 

Peekskill Bay 75 

Pelham Wharf - 140 

Phillipse Family, The 40-42 

Phoenicia 162, 168 

Piermont - 46, 47 

Pine Hill - HI 

Plaaterkill Clove - 180 

Mountain Road.. - 190 

Pleasant Valley 32, 224 

Plum Point 115, 120 

Pocantico Creek 54 

Pollopers Island 112, 124 

PortEwen 142 

" Kent 225 

Ponhockie 152 

POUGHKEEPSIE 133-137 

Cantilever Bridge 132 

Hudson River State Hospital 137 

Vassar College 133 

Putnam, Gen. Israel 73, SI -83 

R. 

Railway Fare in the Catskills 164 

Railways: 

Adirondack - 223 

Boston & Albany 199,200, 219 

Catskill Mountain 168, 185, 186 

Chateaugay 226 

Cooperstown & Charlotte 157, 176 

Delaware & Hudson 200,203,219,220 

" Otsego 176 

Erie 23,118 

Kaaterskill 164 

Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut 125 

New York & Northern 24 

" Central & Hudson River 23, 27, 37, 200, 219 

" Ontario & Western 24 

Otis Elevator 168, 186, 187 

Philadelphia & New England 143 

Reading & New England 177 

19 



242 INDEX. 

Railways— Continued. page. 

Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain 162, 164, 168 

Ulster & Delaware 142, 162, 163,167,168 

West Shore 23,28,69, 199,200 

Red Hook 178 

Redoubt Mountain — 87 

Refugees, The 34,35 

Rensselaerwyck 119, 202 

Rhinebeck 138, 177 

Rhinecliff 177 

Richards, T. Addison - 44 

Ridgefield 59,60 

Rip Van Winkle 190,191 

Riverdale 38 

Riverside Park and Drive 28 

RoaHook 75 

Rockland and Rockland Lake 63 

"Rockwood,'' Home of William Rockefeller 58 

Roger^s Island 186,193 

Roe, E. P., Cornwall, Home of 113 

Roelof Jansen^s Kill - 182, 183 

Rondout - 142,143,146 

Creek 141, 158, 163 

Roseton - 128 

Roundtop 162, 165, 167, 190 

Rouse's Point 226 

Roxbury - -- 174 

s. 

Saranac Lake - -- 226 

Saratoga 220,223 

Saugerties 179-181 

Scarborough 58 

Schodack - 199 

Schoharie, The 164,173, 190 

Schroon Lake 224 

Schuyler Mansion, The 216 

Shad-Fishing ...15,38,64 

Shadyside 32 

Shandaken 168 

Sharon Springs 219 

Shaupeneak 141 

Shawangunk Range 129, 146 

Shokan 158,159 

Sing Sing 60-63 

" State Prison 62 

Sinnipink, (The Hessians' Lake) 79, 83 

Skinners and Cow Boys 42 

Sleepy Hollow - 5a-56 



INDEX. 243 

PAGE. 

Slide Mountain 162, 169, 170 

Snedeu's Landing, (Paramus) 45, 46 

Spitzenberg, The 73 

Spruce Mountain Rift 217 

Spuy ten Duy vil 37 

Staatsburgh 141 

Stage Lines: 

Arkville to Downsville 173 

Big Indian to Clary ville 170 

Cairo to Windham .- 186 

Catskill to Tannersville, (via Palenville and The Clove) 186 

Grand Gorge Station to Prattsville. 173 

Hunter to Windham 164 

North Creek to Adironack Lakes 223 

Paradox Lake to Schroon Lake 224 

Raven Pass to Keene Valley 224 

Shandaken to Lexington 168 

Stamford to Richmondville 176 

West Point to Highland Falls 86 

Westport to the Adirondacks 224 

Stamford - 174 

State Capitol 205-213 

State Deer Park.... 169 

Steamboat Lines: 

Albany 2S, 200 

CatskiU 23, 185 

Haverstraw and Newburgh 75 

Kingston 23, 139, 143 

Newburgh 23 

PeekskiU 75 

Pleasant Valley 33 

Poughkeepsie 135 

Saugerties 181 

Sing Sing 62 

Troy 23 

Stevens' Point 26 

Stony Clove 163 

Stony Point, Battle of 68-72 

Storm King (Butter Hill) 106,108, 111, 124 

Stuy vesant 197 

Sugar Loaf 85,86, 162,165 

"Sunnyside," Home of Washington Irving 49, 50 

T. 

Table Mountain 162 

Tannersville 165 

Tappan 47,60,67 

Reacli ..-.. r - - fiQ 



244 INDEX. 

PAGE. 

TappanSea 46, 51, 53,58 

Tarrytown 53-57 

Teller's Point 63 

Temple Hill 121 

Thurman 217 

Tippet's Hill (Constable's Point) 30, 31, 38 

Tivoli - 178 

TomkinsCove 73 

Treason Hill 65 

Trinity Cemetery 29 

Troy 11,21,220 

Tubby Hook 30 

Twilight Park 167, 188 

u. 

"Undercliffe," Home of Col. George P. Morris 108 

Union Hill 26,28 

V. 

Van Buren, Martin 197 

Van Cortlandt Manor 63 

Vanderberg Cove Ill 

Van der Lyn, John 153, 154 

Van Rensselaer, Patroon 202, 216 

Vaughan's Expedition 152 

Vaux, Calvert 113 

Verdrietig Hook 60 

Verplank's Point 68, 69, 82 

Verrazano Enters the Hudson 16 

Views Mentioned In the Guide: 

Catskills, of 138,141,183,198 

Crescent Reach, from 85 

Croton, from 64 

Haverstraw Bay, of 65 

Highlands, of 76 

" " from Montrose 64 

Hxmtersfield Mountain, from 174 

Hurricane " " 224 

Kuyckuyet, from the 146 

Mount Pisgah, from 164 

" Utsayantha, from 174 

Overlook House Observatory, from 157 

Sing Sing, from 61 

Slide Mountain, from 170 

South Beacon, " 127 

" Gilboa, " 174 

Tower Hill, from 47 

" of Victory, from 123 

Vly Mountain 173 



INDEX, 245 

W. PAGE. 

Wappinger's Creek 128 

Warner, Susan B 101, 107 

Washington, George Jl, 67,96 

Washington Heights 30, 33 

Washington's Headquarters - ..30, 34,45, 69, 72, 115, 121 

Waterford 220 

Watervliet 220 

Wayne, Gen. Anthony 34, 70, 119 

Weehawken 26 

"Week in New York, A,"" by Ernest Ingersoll 28 

West Camp 163 

Davenport 176 

Ha verstraw 65 

Hoboken 26 

Hurley 157 

Nyack 60 

West Park 139 

West Point 88-105 

Battle Monument 98 

Camptown 100 

Corps of Cadets. 102 

Historical Sketch of. 95-97 

Parade, The 93 

United States Military Academy 89-94 

West Point Foundry. 107 

Westport 224 

West Troy 220 

Wildcat Creek... 184 

Willis, N. P 17, 77, 120 

Windham 164, 173, 186 

High Peak 198 

Wittemberg Mountain 146, 162 

Woodland Valley 163 

Y. 

YONKERS 39-43 

Manor Hall 40 

Revolutionary History 42 

St. John's Church 40,42 



linitea States l)otel 

SARATOGA, N. Y. 

The United States Hotel at Saratoga Springs is so far- 
famed and so thoroughly popular that it hardly seems possible 
to say anything new regarding it. It is one of the institutions 
of America. Within its walls gather each year thousands of 
the representatives of the world of fashion, wealth, and refine- 
ment. It is in itself a great social capital, and is on a scale so 
grand that its very magnitude is impressive. Within a court 
formed by three sides of the hotel is one of the loveliest pri- 
vate gardens in America, filled with beautiful fountains, the 
rarest of shrubs, and no more brilliant scene is to be found 
anywhere than is here presented each evening, when the park 
and the surrounding piazzas are thronged with the gay con- 
course of guests. The finest music is rendered morning, after- 
noon, and evening on the broad porches, and even a glimpse 
of the brilliant scenes for which the United States Hotel is 
famous will long linger in the mind. 

Its very immensity is a charm in itself, for there is in the 
great corridors, parlors, and dining rooms a sense of freedom 
from all restraint. It is like roaming about a great baronial 
palace, yourself a prince, with vistas, through the hallways and 
from the windows on the one side, of fairy-like gardens, with 
glistening fountains, and the air fragrant with the verdure, 
and on the other, the gay boulevards of the city of Saratoga, 
alive with the handsome equipages and trappings of fashion 
and wealth. The cuisine of the United States is to the unini- 
tiated a marvel, and to those accustomed to all the good 
things of life a joy and satisfaction. 

The markets of New York are drawn upon heavily each 
day for all the luxuries and delicacies of the season, and the 
fertile country about Saratoga for vegetables and the dairy 
products for which the region is famous. 

This hotel is one of the most perfectly appointed and beau- 
tiful in the world, and the visitor who spends a day, a month, 
or a season within its hospitable portals will ever recur with 
pleasure to the experience. 



Churchill Hall 

In the Western Catskills 
Stamford, N. Y. 

Churchill Hall is situated in Stamford, one of the most beau- 
tiful villages in the State, at an elevation of i,8oo feet, having 
complete system of sewerage and several miles of stone side- 
walks. The surrounding country is remarkable for its natural 
beauty, and the mountain peaks are grand and massive. The 
climate, owing to the peculiar location at the head waters of 
.three large rivers, is distinguished for its uniform temperature 
and dryness. 




-^RE:Af<-VIEW^eii\JI\eHILb«HALg 

The house has just been enlarged, and equipped with gas 
and electricity, electric bells, baths, library and reading room, 
elegant music hall, orchestra, etc. 

Fast Express trains with through parlor cars from New 
York and Philadelphia direct to Churchill Hall Grounds during 
season. 

West Hall, kept open through the year, has steam heat and 
every convenience for the comfort of guests in winter. 

For illustrated and descriptive circular, address 

S. E. CHURCHILL, M. D., 

STAMFORD, N. Y. 



The Largest and Best Located 
Hotel in the City 



M 



ansion 



H 



ouse 




M. CROWLEY, PROPRIETOR 
AMERICAN PLAN 



Troy, N. Y. 



Otis Elevating Railway 



iCatskill Mountain Railway: 

IMPROVED SERVICE 



To the Summit of the Catskill Mountains. 




Connects with 9.40, 11.30, and 3.30 trains on New York 
Central, and 11.35 and 4.00 trains on West Shore Railroads; 
Also with Albany day boats and Catskill evening line, for 
Catskill Mountain House, Kaaterskill Hotel, Laurel House, 
Twilight, Santa Cruz, Sunset, Elka, and Onteora Parks, Scho- 
harie Manor, Tannersville, and other resorts. 

A LIMITED TRAIN 

Over the New York Central on Saturdays at 1.40 p. m. for Cat- 
skill, without stop, is due at Otis (Summit) 

IN 3 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES. 




The Picturesque and ONLY All-Rail Route running Through 
Drawing-Room Cars between 

New York, Philadelphia and BloomviUe, 



AND BETWEEN 



Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Long Branch, 

New York, and Kingston, to Saratoga 

and Lake George, 

DURING THE SUMMER SEASON 

THE FAVORITE ROUTE OF BUSINESS AND PLEASURE TRAVEL BETWEEN 

EAST, WEST, NORTHWEST, AND SOUTHWEST. 

THE FAST EXPRESS TRAINS over this line have elegant Palace and 
Sleeping Cars between New York, Boston, Kingston, Albany, 
Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls, to Hamil- 
ton, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis, without 
change. 

For tickets, time tables, and full information apply to any Ticket Agent, 
WEST SHORE RAILROAD, or address 

C. E. LAMBERT, General Passenger Agent, 

No. 5 Vanderbilt Avenue> New York. 



Delaware ^ 



® 




(ft) 



® 



THE SHORTEST, QUICKEST a:^ BEST LINE 



BETWEEN 



NEW YORK ^ A/IONTREAL. 

The Best Line to the Principal Resorts in the 
Adirondack Mountains. 

THE ROUTE VIA 

MONTREAL, Lf\KE GtlflMFLfllN. LflKE GEORGE, SftRftTOGft 
f\ND TttE HUDSON RIVER, 

Is the greatest highway of summer pleasure travel in America 
Send four cents postage for fine descriptive guide to 

J. W. BURDICK, 

GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT, 
ALBANY, N. Y. 



Mansion House 

Corner Broadway and Strand, Rondout, N. Y. 



J. E. liASHEB, 

Proprietor. 



A first-class hotel, only two blocks from the depot of the Ulster & Delaware R. R. 
and convenient to Hudson River ancf West Shore Railroads. 




Passengers by steamers MARY POWELL, Baldwin, and Romer, and by afternoon 
trains, will find this comfortable house very convenient to remain in over night, iu 
anticipation of taking the morning trains on the above road. Hotel porter will meet 
*' Mary Powell" on her arrival. 



® 




WABASH 



RAILROAD 



Forms an important link with all lines from 
the East to CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS, KAN- 
SAS CITY, OMAHA, DENVER, SAN 
FRANCISCO, and all points West, North- 
west, and Southwest. 



Leave New York, Grand Central Station, 
daily, 6.00 p. m. 

Leave Boston, Fitchburg Railroad Sta- 
tion, daily, 3.00 p. m. 

Through Sleeping Cars from NEW YORK 
and BOSTON to CHICAGO; leave New 
York, West Shore R. R., daily, 6 00 p. m. 
and 8.00 p. M.; leave Boston, Fitchburg R. 
R. , daily, 7.00 p. m. 

Stop-off Privilege at Niagara 
Falls from one to ten days. 

Tickets can be purchased by HUDSON 
RIVER DAY LINE to Albany, at which 
point connection is made with through 
trains to the West. Sleeping Car reserva- 
tions, etc., can be secured in New York be- 
fore leaving on boat. 

All meals served in Dining Cars. Palace 
Sleeping Cars, Parlor Cars, also Reclining 
Chair Cars (seats free), are run in all 
through trains. 

ALL TRANSFERS IN UNION DEPOTS. 

For information in regard to rates, etc., apply to 

H. B. MCCLELLAN, genl Eastern Agt.. 

387 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
J. RAMSEY, JR., C. S. CRANE, 

ViCC-PRES. AND GCN' L MGR., GEN'L PASS" R AND TICKET AGT. 

$T. LOUIS. 



The ONLY 
Through 
Sleeping 
Car Line 
fronn 

New York 
and 

Boston to 
St. Louis 
via Niagara 
Falls 




The Shortest 
All Sea Trips 
Out of New York. 



Always Cool on the Ocean. 



The Beautiful New Steamships of the 

Old Dominion Line 



Afford a Delightful Outing Trip, 



Tickets, Covering Round. Trip of 700 MILES 
SEA TRAVEL, Meals and Stateroom Berth en route for 



;S> 13.00 



Same Trip, but Including- One and One-quarter Days' Stay 
at Virg-inia's Celebrated Seashore Resorts, the 

HOTEL CHAMBERLIN, 
HYGEIA HOTEL. 
OLD POINT COMFORT, 
OR PRINCESS ANNE HOTEL, 
VIRGINIA BEACH, for 

Seventeen (;S 17.00) Dollars. 



Send for Copy of "PILOT," Containing List of Short and Delightful Trips. 



OLD DOMINION S. S. COMPANY, 

Pier 26, North River, New York. 

W. L. GUILLAUDEU, Vice-Presioent and Traffic Manager, 




o 






CO 



o 

a; (a 

^^ 



2"S 
.a « 






•So 

0>H 

o p 

"a 
O 



r^ pen from May 29th till in October . . . 




THE 



Grant House, 

Jefferson Heights. Catskill, N. Y. 



Transient Rates, $3.00 per day. Elevation, 500 feet. 



GRANT & CORNELL, Proprietors. 



"TRAVEL IS THE ROYAL ROAD TO LEARNING.' 



1 




PEOPLES LINE 

NEW YORK TO ALBANY. 



STEAMER DREW, 

Capt. S. J. EoE. 



ST.A.en DEAN RICHMOND, 

Capt J. H. Manville. 



Leave NEW YORK from Pier 41, North River, foot of Canal Street, 
at 6 OO P. M., daily, Sundays excepted. 



\Ne Ticket and Check Baggage to Albany, Tfoij, Saratoga, Bluff 
Point, all points on Lake George and Lake Champlain, and the 
Adirondack Regions. Also uia N. Y. & H. R. R. for all points West. 

Saturday Night Steamer connects at Albany Sunday Morning for Saratoga and Northern Points. 



ALBANY TO NEW YORK. 

Leave ALBANY at 8.00 P. M. (Sundays excepted), or on arrival of 
Evening Trains from the North, West, and East. 



W W. EVERETT, 

President, 



J. H. ALLAIRE, E. C. EARLE, 

Gen' I Ticket Agent, Gen' I Freight Agent, 

New York. 



New York. 
M. B. WATERS, Genl Passr Agent, Albany, N. Y. 



I 

Ramsdell's Daily Line 
For Newburgh, \ 

Calling at Cranstons, West Point, Cold Spring, ancf 
Cornwall — Fishkill (by Ferry), 

Also places on the NEWBURGH, ORANGE LAKE & WALDEIN ELECTRIC R. P, 

I 

For Passengers and Freight. ' 




The New and Elegant Iron 
Screw Steamers 1 

''Homer Ramsdelf' 
and '"Newburgh^" 

The Fastest Propellers \ 
On the Hudson River.. 



Leave New^ York from New Pier 24, foot of Franklin Stree 

daily, except Sundajs at 5.00 p.m. (Sundays at 9.00 a.m., 

foot West 133d Street, 9.25 a.m., from June 1st to 

Oct. 1st). Leave Newburgh, daily, at 7.00 p.m. , 

The tip trip Sunday morning affords one of the pleasantest and 
most select Excursions of any line running from New York. Far*' 
50 cents. And in connection with the Newburgh & Walden Elec-j 
trie Railway, gives to the New York public something novel in thd 
way of an Excursion through the most charming parts of Orangd 
County, to Orange Lake and Walden, making a most delightful trip.l 

And an unusually pleasant trip is offered by the Mary Powell, 
leaving New York every afternoon except Sunday, and returning by 
this line from Cranstons, West Point, or Cornwall, tickets for which 
are for sale on the Powell. 

This line offers unsurpassed service in every particular. Large 
and luxuriously furnished saloons and staterooms, heated by steam 
and lighted by electricity. The trip by the up-steamer affords a 
most enjoyable sail up the Hudson in the early evening, past the 
wonderful Palisades and through the far-famed Highlands, the most 
beautiful part of the river. 



Qatskill Mountains . . 

Shortest, Cheapest, and Best Route 
from New York 

To HtJtcl Kaaterskill, Cntskill ^Mountain Hoiise, Laurel House, Kaater- 
skill Falls, Haines Falls, Twilight Park, Santa Cruz Park, Sunset Park, 
Onteora Park, Palenville, Tannersville, Prospect Park Hotel; Grant 
House, Summit Hill House, Cairo, Durham, Windham, and all points of 
interest in the Mountain Region. 




CATSKILL EVENING LINE STEAMERS 

'•KA^TERSKILL" arid "CATSKILL" 

Leave New York from Pier ^8, N. R., foot of West nth Street, 
every week day at 6 p. m., connecting "-t Catskill with trains for all points 
reached bv Catskill Mountain Rv., Cairo R. R., and Otis Elevating Rail- ■ 
way. FARE, ONE DOLLAR." 

Steamers leave Catskill week days ai 7 p. m. tSaturday.s 
excepted). Sundays at 7 and 10 p. m. (10 o'clock boat from July 8th tf. 
September ist, -inclusive). 

Tickets sold and baggage checked through. 

Staterooms booked in advance. 

Special attention paid to the transportation of hor.ses and carriages. 

Folder containing list of hotels and boarding houses, with locations. 
rates, and other information, sent free to any address. 



G. M. SNYDER, President, W.J 

Foot of \Vp<;t irtli ^1 Xcw York. 



Hughes, Treasurer. 

Catskill. N. V 






Hudson River by Dajffgh 

The I^lost Charming Inland Water Trip on the American Continent. 




IHF. J'ALACE IRON STEAMERS 



NEW YORK 



AND 

OF THE 



ALBANY 



HUDSON RIVER DAY LINE, 

Leave New York Daily, Except Sunday, from Desbrosses Street Pier, 8.40 a. m.; 
Twenty-second Street Pier, N. R., 9.00 a. m. From Albany 8.30 a. m. 

THE FAVORITE ROUTE TO THE 

CATSKILL MOUNTAINS, SARATOGA AND THE ADIRONDACKS, HOTEL CHAMPlAIN AND 

THE NORTH, NIAGARA FALLS AND THE WEST, THE THOUSAND 

ISLANDS AND THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. 

Appreciating the demand of the hotter class of tourists for comfoft and hixury, the 
management of the day line have perfected their service in every manner possible, keep- 
ing it fully abreast of tne times. The elegant steamers are as famous as is the majestic river 
on -which they run. Built of iron, of great speed and superb appointments, they ure tin 
finest of their clas.s afloat. No freight of any description is carried, the steamers bein- 
designed exclusively for the passenger service. Richly furnished private parlors, glvin^ 
nhsolutc seclusion and privacy to small parties or families, are provided, and handsomel 
appointed (lining r<»oms, wlth'superlor service, are on the main deck, aifording an unintei 
rupted view of the magnificent scenery for which the Hudson is renowned. 

ATTRACTIVE DAILY EXCURSIONS TO ' 

WEST POINT, NEWBURGH, AND ROUGH KEEPS! E. 

Send six cents for copy of "Summer Excursion Book." 
I I OI.COTT, General Manager, F. B. HIBBARD, General Passenger \ 

DESBROSSES STREET PIER. NEW YORK. 



/y: 



